October

We've been having resplendent October days with a seamless blue sky and brilliant sunshine. The plantings on the High Line are looking achingly beautiful in their autumnal hues, turning into shades of gold, red and brown. Kinglets are back in town. Everyday I listen to unfamiliar birdsongs signaling the presence of migrating birds stopping on their way south. Mornings at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden are my favorite time; just a few moment of solitary wandering around its ground will fill my heart for days.

October 10

Now constantly there is the sound,

quieter than air,

of the leaves falling

Under their loosening bright

gold, the sycamore limbs

bleach whiter.

Now the only flowers

are beeweed and asters spray

of their white and lavender

over the brown leaves.

The calling of a crow sounds

loud - a landmark - now

that the life of summer falls

silent, and the night grows.

Wendell Berry