saying goodbye to October

October's Bright Blue Weather

O SUNS and skies and clouds of June,

And flowers of June together,

Ye cannot rival for one hour

October's bright blue weather;
When loud the bumble-bee makes haste,

Belated, thriftless vagrant,

And Golden-Rod is dying fast,

And lanes with grapes are fragrant;
When Gentians roll their fringes tight

To save them for the morning,

And chestnuts fall from satin burrs

Without a sound of warning;
When on the ground red apples lie

In piles like jewels shining,

And redder still on old stone walls

Are leaves of woodbine twining;
When all the lovely wayside things

Their white-winged seeds are sowing,

And in the fields, still green and fair,

Late aftermaths are growing;
When springs run low, and on the brooks,

In idle golden freighting,

Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush

Of woods, for winter waiting;
When comrades seek sweet country haunts,

By twos and twos together,

And count like misers, hour by hour,

October's bright blue weather.
O suns and skies and flowers of June,

Count all your boasts together,

Love loveth best of all the year

October's bright blue weather.

Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885)

This post was inspired by my 6th grade teacher Sister Eleanor, who thought it was important that children learn to memorize poems. This is one that has always stuck with me. This picture - and the amazing blue skies we've had lately, makes me think of that poem. I'm not sure what kind of tree is in the picture above- and it is actually in my neighbors yard, but hangs over the fence into mine. In the fall the leaves turn yellow and fall and the structure of the branches beneath is stunning. Watch for them in a later post. If you look close you can see a faint daytime moon in the picture too.