Today, September 22, 2016 is the first day of Autumn, or the Autumnal Equinox, or if you prefer, the Fall Equinox. In recognition of this, here are a few poems about autumn.
No. 12
The morns are meeker than they were --
The nuts are getting brown --
The berry's cheek is plumper --
The Rose is out of town.
The Maple wears a gayer scarf --
The field a scarlet gown --
Lest I should be old fashioned
I'll put a trinket on.
-- Emily Dickinson --
from The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
With the moon-rising .. .
Leaf after leaf after leaf
Falls fluttering down
-- Shiki --
from Cherry-Blossoms: Japanese Haiku Series III
tran. not given
The mountain grows darker,
Taking the scarlet
From the autumn leaves.
-- Buson --
from Silent Flowers
trans R. H. Blyth
Clear autumn sky
One pine tree
Soaring on the ridge.
-- Soseki --
from Zen Haiku
Trans and edited by Soiku Shigematsu
Song at the Beginning of Autumn
Now watch this autumn that arrives
In smells. All looks like summer still;
Colours are quite unchanged, the air
On green and white serenely thrives.
Heavy the trees with growth and full
The fields. Flowers flourish everywhere.
Proust who collected time within
A child's cake would understand
The ambiguity of this--
Summer still raging while a thin
column of smoke stirs from the land
Proving that autumn gropes for us.
But every season is a kind
Of rich nostalgia. We give names--
Autumn and summer, winter, spring--
As though to unfasten from the mind
Our moods and give them outward forms.
We want the certain, solid thing
But I am carried back against
My will into a childhood where
Autumn is bonfires, marbles. smoke;
I lean against my window fenced
From evocations in the air.
When I said autumn, autumn broke.
-- Elizabeth Jennings --
from Collected Poems
When I think of autumn, I do not think of autumn in Tucson, where I've lived for over 45 years. Instead, I think of autumn in Chicago, where I grew up.
my renewed life:
ReplyDeletehow ancient
autumn is!
to the end of the field
all alone i go:
autumn sky.
one huge rock
on the riverbed:
autumn water.
natsume soseki
Mudpuddle,
DeleteClear autumn sky
One pine tree
Soaring on the ridge.
-- Soseki --
Zen Haiku
tx... good, isn't he?
DeleteMudpuddle,
DeleteYes, I almost included that one but decided four would be best.
I've changed my mind. I will add it to the post. Thanks for reminding me of Soseki.
Thanks, Fred. I especially enjoyed Emily Dickinson's poem. It gave me a chuckle especially about the Rose.
ReplyDeleteNo, not much autumn in Tucson. When I lived in northern Arizona, we had an autumn and very cold weather in the winter, but being in the high desert with not much in the way of trees except for juniper, we didn't get the glorious colors.
Madamevauquer,
ReplyDeleteIn late October, I drive to Mt. Lemmon and enjoy a bit of color up there. It's 9000+ ft high, and there are a few aspen, so there's touch of yellow around the ski run.
R.T.,
ReplyDeleteYes, that is a personal touch. It's also a celebratory poem, in a way.
Wonderful evocative stuff, Fred. When I think of autumn I think automatically: back to school. I also remember the cheery autumns in NYC where I grew up. In a way, autumn to me means Manhattan.
ReplyDeleteYvette,
DeleteElizabeth Jennings's observation that autumn memories seem formed in childhood does strikes home to me also.
I wonder if it's because it's childhood or because my childhood memories fit in with the traditional autumnal imagery.