Human Autumn

Human Autumn

 

(Inspired by Loren Eiseley's  All the Strange Hours)

 

Before the snow

a last attempt to order meaning

before a spring breaks

in the rusted heart

and dreams and memories

fall apart

in irreparable ruin.

 

Oncoming age

is a vast wild autumn  country

strewn with broken seed pods

hurrying clouds

abandoned farm machinery

and circling crows

family countenance

leaping from place to place

across oblivion.

Reviews

[Nigel Newman]

Years back the BBC serialised 'To serve them all my days', and the raging once-confident teacher seeing his diminishing world looked forlornly out of the window and sadly said 'Burnt out ends of smoky days' i.e. the T S Eliot poem. It has long been a favourite image of Autumn, the Autumn of one's life. And your beautiful poem reminded me of those things. I especially like the first few lines of the 2nd stanza, which are increasingly for me looking familiar ...

Nice work!
Nigel

[rutherford]

Thanks Nigel. The season and images from Loren Eiseley's writing. Sometimes when I finish a book with strong images like All the Strange Hours I try to write a poem to capture the feeling of it.