Fall Almanac V

Lord: it is time. The summer was immense.
Lay your shadow on the sundials
and let loose the wind in the fields.
Bid the last fruits to be full;
give them another two more southerly days,
press them to ripeness, and chase
the last sweetness into the heavy wine.

Whoever has no house now will not build one
anymore.
Whoever is alone now will remain so for a long
time,
will stay up, read, write long letters,
and wander the avenues, up and down,
restlessly, while the leaves are blowing.

Autumn Day -Rainer Maria Rilke


This poem has four translations from the German. This seemed the most direct.

Rilke seems to portend winter, the ending of things or hibernation of sorts. too late now if one hasn't prepared. Perhaps this weather portends winter. too as we have moved into wintery times, with the broken sky, windswept, as the cold comes in over the Midwestern plains from Canada, to our valley.

(if you enlarge pix you can see some people on the trail. The hill in the distance is starting to show color)

The first freezes, two nights (or early mornings) below freezing, the first frosts, no days over 70. The next warm snap will be Indian Summer ("two southerly days"), though thats a moveable feast of sorts and you never know when it was until it's over.



Starting to see some good soaks, with that hard rain that settled in on Friday, over an inch.
...and, deeper into the forest, more color showing, but still a nice green understory.