Halloween. It’s the most wonderful time of the year. (Suck it, Andy Williams, December is too cold.) And I like a holiday that has a dark side and embraces it.
I like Thanksgiving’s food but think a practice of being grateful just once a year is bad form.
bench beside trail:
vacant but for a gnawed
hickory nutshell.
step: "Crunch - Crack!" --
skulking deer startles itself,
looks out: who noticed?
the grain is ripe.
the days are short.
the farmer, weary.
fallen leaves, post-rain:
gauge the drizzle by
what crunch remains.
through the Autumn,
one tree holds leaves longer,
then drops them faster.
one strange tree
curls like a question mark:
Autumnal forest.
The chill is here.
The sky never
bluer.
The colors turn,
with leaves ever
fewer.
Until a last
hanger-on yields
to a weak breeze.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 