Gotta love October days

                                               CLINGING TO TODAY

Mid-October mid-day sun

Cajoles me to squint against her radiance,

A breeze I can barely feel

Peels the golden brown leaves

From their grasping branches.

Ceremoniously they process

To their graduation,

Descending in clearly defined groups--

Stripping the splendid forest array

Softly into grey.

I crunch a firm crimson treat

With tongue and teeth--

It bursts with tart juice swimming

Along my grateful taste buds.

The flavor sings me a memory of decades

Dwelling in days like this one to savor

Crunching raked piles of glee

Under stomping giddy feet.

Inside, a fleece jacket waits its turn

To wrap me in comfort,

Assured I won’t neglect it much longer

As days get shorter.

But this day my naked arms accept

A few more bronze freckles

Destined to last till I wither

Unlike the crispy brown specks

On route to decay.

Yesterday’s rain softened the mud;

Compressing the scribbled-crayon carpet,

Tickling my nostrils with a lasting perfume

I suction it deep into lungs and retain it.

Black locust saplings, bedecked in oval emeralds

Defy the annual aging of elderly neighbors.

A dozen Phoenix trees, as big as me

Sprung from the seeded ashes

Of parents toppled by fierce winds

This time last year;

The orphans mock the murderers

Who toppled in terror

Ancestors quaking their burial grounds

With great drama before they succumbed to slumber.

Upon this fertile earth

Which gave them birth

The children rose swiftly,

Like an army, strong and plentiful

Climbing independently

Towards cerulean skies.

As I sit, crickets belt out solos;

Paired cicadas do duets,

Their tune the dirge of siblings laid to rest;

Redheaded woodpeckers add percussion

Hammering beaks for smaller relatives

Of the noisy procrastinators avoiding naps.

I toss the core of my Winesap sucked dry

Contributing to the sweet stench of decay

Hoping the soil will be as satisfied

With my donation

As I linger

Still squinting

Ignoring chores which will still be

Wanting to be done

After I drink in what remains

Of this impeccable day.

SuzyOzone

10/24/12