August Images

 — 1 —

A strong wind carpets my yard

with fallen leaves, autumn’s brilliance

faded now and brittle, the trees’

limbs, the skeletons of autumn.

 — 2 —

There’s a silence on the lake,

the last of the loons leaving

and taking with them their echoing calls

reverberating in the clear autumn air.

 — 3 —

From my home, sauntering

an autumn trail through the woods,

the acrid smell of a wood fire burning

leads me back in time and memory.

 — 4 —

Autumn’s early morning, and the frost lingers

on the grass and fallen leaves, lingering,

too, and the stone fence bordering my yard,

a foretelling of the winter snows ahead.

 — 5 —

A dark night, cool but not cold,

“sweater weather,” we claim, pulling a wrap

around us, looking to the stars, awaiting Orion

to begin his winter walk across the night sky.