Monday's Poetry: "October's Bright Blue Weather"

by Pa Rock
Poetry Appreciator

I've just returned to the Ozarks following ten days on the West Coast, and, during my absence, fall has begun to show itself.  Late last year I had the maple tree that sat in front of my living room window removed. That beautiful tree, which was continually splitting and posed a danger to the house and to my new metal roof, was a true harbinger of autumn, and because it is now gone the change in seasons seems a bit more subtle.  But today there are scattered leaves on the ground, the wind has a bit of a chill, and the sky is that peculiar blue that seems to say the summer is fleeting.

19th century American poet Helen Hunt Jackson brought many signs of the fall season together in her poem, "October's Bright Blue Weather."  Her words evoke the feel of the season and serve to remind us of the simple pleasures of nature.

Please enjoy!


October's Bright Blue Weather
by Helen Hunt Jackson

     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.