With the beginning of Autumn only two days away, we wanted to share with you two poems written by Maryknoll Sisters about this inspiring, colorful, cool, and crisp time of year.
Autumn
Photo Credit: Halloran/USA
Season of all seasons blest
with pudgy pumpkins
zesty cider
an avalanche of apples
McIntosh, Empire, Cortland…
Season of white seedless grapes
spirited squirrels squeezing through
a bird feeder
multi-hued chrysanthemums
on the porch steps.
Season of all seasons splashed
with riotous color shivering leaves
red, russet, yellow
Photo Credit: Halloran/USA
and happy combinations of which
Van Gogh never dreamt.
Season of plaid skirts and shirts
warm knit sweaters
and wine slacks.
Seasons of all seasons favored
with pristine blue sky
bracing air
lordly sun
and a world of sparkling images
of the Holy One.
Sr. Joan Metzner, MM
Autumn
The wind reigns in autumn.
The wind sighs and life rustles and rattles,
forgetting green in the red/gold flames lit by the
wind.
Wind-sigh turns to tight laughter
that rushes among brown brush and harvest
stubble setting them a-cackle in its echo.
Wind-laugh turns to harsh howl that tears through
naked branches and homeless leaves
leaving them trembling in its wake.
Wind-howl turns to bitter screech that rakes
the earth
stripping it of spongy warmth and pliant color
until wind holds earth, brittle-fragile, in its grasp.
The wind reigns in autumn.
But autumn’s ruler is winter’s servant as
wind flames read/gold to cold
boldly burning a way for barren beauty.
Sr. Ann Hayden, MM
October 31, 1980
