October First - A Poem

Images taken in early October throughout the years to accompany a love poem to this time of year, inspired by a trip through the arboretum woodland.

October First

In the newborn days of autumn

When the full season’s fire waits to burn.

The forest, still verdant, begins to

Light inside each leaf with lambent glow.

Some leaves shift to luminous citrine hues,

But others cling to summer’s emerald.

If the sun is high and pierces through the clouds,

The strange transformation makes the grove appear

As if lit with incandescent inner mystery.

I imagine a faerie whose work it is

To coax the trees to glow so golden,

Pressing their forehead to their bark,

Shifting their energy deep within

Where sap already glows molten

And whispering to the tree “it is time,

for a short while, let’s show the mortal world

what Faerieland sees.”