Falling into Autumn

There comes a day, between
spring’s last blackbird concert
and the first swift to fly south,
when nature takes a breath.

Leaves are already yellow,
counting days that empty with their falling,
their dusty weariness starts to show;
tattered, brittle, they know they must go.

On a blustery breeze, fragments of sun
set fire to trees with a resplendent blush
and a sudden swirl of copper,
a symphony of senses washed in mist.

Come late afternoon,
the sky is tinged with apricot
as autumn flicks its loaded brush
in a flaming colourwash.

By teatime it’s dark; shadows
crowd around lamplight while butter
melts on toast, waning moon in the window
distorted by raindrops, sparkling and slow.

Kim M. Russell, 24th September 2024

The Mulberry Tree in Autumn by Vincent van Gogh, 1889

It’s Tuesday and, at the dVerse Poets Pub, Punam is hosting Poetics with some autumn love. She tells us that, where she lives, “the onset of ‘patjhad’ or falling leaves season” is marked by the “various hues of green” that are “beginning to turn pale”.

Punam reminds us that autumn is the “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness”, which has “inspired multitudes of writers and continues to do so”. She quotes Capote: “Aprils have never meant much to me, autumns seem that season of beginning”; and Donne: “No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace, as I have seen in one autumnal face”. I love that she also gave examples of autumn poems by Emily Bronte and Emily Dickinson.

Punam says that the “season can be potent and poignant at the same time;  a time to stop and take stock as well as time to rejuvenate and brace self for winter that can be harsh. It is usually tinged with a touch of melancholy. A season of loss and letting go, it’s also a season of reaping the bounty of harvest and of abundance.”

We are sharing poems about my favourite season! Also linked up to What’s Going On? Sherry’s Open Link on Wednesday 6th November 2024.

60 thoughts on “Falling into Autumn”

  1. This is sheer poetic brilliance, Kim 😍 The imagery here is so palpable! I can feel the atmosphere as it turns dark and as “shadows crowd around lamplight while butter melts on toast.” ❤️❤️

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    1. Thank you so much, Sanaa! When I think of autumn, I think of walking home from school with my grandmother, collecting leaves and conkers, and then drinking hot chocolate and eating buttered toast or crumpets, waiting for my grandfather to come home from work.

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    1. Thank you, Björn. I associate harvest autumn with van Gogh. I am waiting for the colours to take off here. The only coloured leaves are those that fall from our cherry tree. However, he few quinces we have this year a golden.

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  4. Tick-tock flow of time & seasonal shift, exquisitely captured here, Kim! Thanks. I especially dug the final stanza’s teatime shift to lamplight and the waning moon.

    And a big, special thanks for including my favorite Vincent!

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    1. Thank you so much, Ron. I went to the van Gogh Poets and Lovers exhibition at the National Gallery in London last week, Wonderful! And I came away with some goodies.

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  7. So evocative, and described as if by flicks from a paintbrush, desperately trying to keep up with the changes described. Van Gogh’s painting goes so well with your vivid touches of the leaves. Lovely verse.

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  24. I love this stanza especially:

    “By teatime it’s dark; shadows
    crowd around lamplight while butter
    melts on toast, waning moon in the window
    distorted by raindrops, sparkling and slow. “

    One thing I hate about this time of year is that it gets dark so early…..your poem gave such a vivid depiction of this time of year, and I loved all the details you included. You are so very good with visuals and sensory images.

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  29. A gorgeously rich poem, Kim, its imagery and emotion keeping us rapt with wonder at the autumn show! I especially loved

    ““fragments of sun
    set fire to trees with a resplendent blush    “

    Breathtakingly descriptive.

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