Autumn

The days are getting shorter, the wind sharper, and the temperature lower. The leaves are changing color and falling to the ground. Autumn is here! I love autumn, although I don't really know why. Maybe it's because the crisp air and blustery wind stirs my blood and makes me feel more alive. Maybe it's because I make pleasant associations with bowhunting and spending time in the woods. Whatever the case, I'm happy that Autumn is here once again. This year finds me spending Autumn in Poland, where I dwell in an A-frame cabin situated in a little pine woods. One implication of this is that I don't have to rake leaves this year. (Yeehah!) However, it's always fun to reminisce about chores that I don't have to do anymore (like raking:) So, here's a poem about raking leaves. It's by Robert Frost, who is one of my favorite poets.

Gathering Leaves
by Robert Frost
Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.
I make a great noise
Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer
Running away.
But the mountains I raise
Elude my embrace,
Flowing over my arms
And into my face.
I may load and unload
Again and again
Till I fill the whole shed,
And what have I then?
Next to nothing for weight,
And since they grew duller
From contact with earth,
Next to nothing for color.
Next to nothing for use.
But a crop is a crop,
And who's to say where
The harvest shall stop?