Passages

I see the seasons turning
in the wall calendar pages
where I gaze on country roads and woods.
Green leaves have passed on to red
in a young oak tree,
across the way,
the only such autumn color
for me to savor,
that’s not in some pretty photograph.
It will be gone soon.
It reminds me,
lest I forget,
that these in-between-season days
are just the flickering embers
of a carefree summer that is gone.
The embers die out one by one.

Casia is turning wild yellow and bright in the sun.
I smell autumn
in the indescribably sweet fragrance
of tea olive blooms,
those tiny white flowers
that always take me back
to a long procession
of past Octobers,
and memories.
My thoughts drift from puffy clouds to blue skies,
to imagining leaf-filled paths
and cool, jacket days
lined with plaid warmth.

I cannot see a gray day from here
only the other oak tree
rustling in the wind,
still green and full,
my marker of time’s passages.
I am reluctant to recall last summer.
It saddens me.
It was too innocent.
It was so very long ago.

Through my bedroom window,
I can feel the warmth outside.
The sunshine steadies me,
comforts and shields me
from imagined cold.
I’ll soon walk out the door,
and the light will surround me.

That captures most of what I’m feeling as we get fully into fall.

“I smell autumn” You managed to jog long ago memories for me with this, Os. Beautifully flowing verse and imagery. Thanks….

I don’t know how you do it, or where the words and phrases come from, but I sure admire it. Bravo.

The past wafts in with the present…Autumn is such an intense time for reflection and wistfulness and appreciating the beauty of the changing light and transiency of nature…

You’re very observant, last summer does feel very far away. I wonder how we’ll look back upon this autumn in the coming seasons left of our lives. Also, Admired your note to another diarist (for whom I rarely leave notes) regarding the keeping of a diary itself. Your note made sense to me, as did his telling entry.

I am reluctant to recall last summer. It saddens me. It was too innocent. It was so very long ago. That hits the spot. Interesting to think of a summer as innocent. Simple. I like that a lot. RYN: lucky, lucky guy–you’ve lived there?! I always thought that if ever there was a place for a wannabe writer to live, New Orleans would be that place. How far is Metaire

the French Quarter? I was thinking of getting an apartment there, but I want to be within walking distance of all the good stuff. Of course, I’m sure there are great things everywhere. Take care.

Ahem–that should read: How far is Metaire from the French Quarter?

This is extraordinary as is all of your poetry, Oswego!! I love the part of warm jacket days with padded quilt lining. I have a real thing for plaid flannel shirts and jackets made of that. There is something so comfortable and familiar about them!! Yes, the passages take their time don’t they, my friend? You touch my soul with your words.

I was wondering the other day why leaves fall rather than wither on the stem, allowing the nutrients to be reabsorbed into the tree. That the falling leaves are much more pretty is hard to despute, however.

I enjoy the aroma when I pass someone burning leaves. I decided that I’d rake some leaves and burn them. They crackled and pine cones and pecans popped in the fire. Now I have these burn spots in the back yard and I’ve decided that I really like a carpet of leaves all over the yard. I like to crunch them when I walk and I like their rolling rustle when I shuffle my feet through them. [Zhnee]A37

RYN: It was shoegazer, and his “infinite little dreams.”

And regarding your wishes about my wellness…I’m doing it, even if I’m not doing it well.

Both this and the previous entries left me with nothing to say. Wonderful writing. Doesn’t hit my conscious, but surely must have suite an impact subconsciously – I’m just not quite sure how! (-: Love

:o)

A lovely portrait of the bittersweet moods of autumn, Oswego. “Jacket days lined with plaid warmth”…what a rich line, evoking reveries and memories.

Last fall I “wrote” your poem, this year you wrote your own, and well done, too. Well, hoping you get some of the deep relaxation you crave and need, despite our loss of an innocence as you well note. Would you believe that I asked my fellow if we would pass near Folly Beach, and he looked it up, returning home on SC interstate. Alas, we didn’t–I’d wanted to see it from reading your pages. mag

You have a way of taking us with you on your journeys. I could feel the crisp fall air and take in the sight and smell of the trees as the leaves were falling all around me. Thanks for the trip. liz

RYN: Your thoughts, as always, are appreciated. It’s good to know you’ve found your home at last. Thank you too for the recommendation…I’ll look for it.

never disappointed when I stop here and read…

WOW!!! That was the first word that came to my mind as I read this. I can see and feel the jacket lining. Your talent shines as brightly as the sunshine in your entry.

While I liked the whole poem I especially liked the last paragraph……it seems to speak on many levels and could have many meanings and interpretations. It is always going to have a freshness of a new day because of that. It also sounds like hope.

🙂

don’t you just hate people who leave useless notes, like a smiley face?

Hm.. still warm and light where you live? But something is changing now, soon it’s autumn and winter at your place also. I like the changing of the seasons. Makes patterns in my life in a way. It’s something new, but well-known as well. Have a nive week ahead my friend!

Willy & Wilma

November 4, 2001

There isn’t much that hasn’t been said here about your fine word pictures of Autumn, Oswego

Bramble

November 8, 2001

So lovely!

nice

Edelweis

October 26, 2002

Very beautiful… and profound senses expressed through this poem. I like the last stanza most of all! This poem could be written today! I have this feeling now that summer is so far away and when you write about the innocence, maybe that’s what it was and is now…always too innocent! Look what happened to the world when we recall events of the past year! Have a peaceful evening my friend!

Just beautiful.