autumn morning

october. an early morning rain. a mottled grey sky.

in one tiny part of the world a little pink flower glows in a sea of green . . .
in another little corner, cedar reaches little fractal fingers into the sky . . .
and just overhead . . . the geese are starting to wing their way southwards . . .

the rains begin. this is no summer rain,
dropping the blotches of wet on the dusty road:
this rain is slow, without thunder or hurry:
there is plenty of time - there will be months of rain,
lost in the hills, the old gray farmhouses
hump their backs against it, and smoke from their chimneys
struggles through weighted air. the sky is sodden with water,
it sags against the hills and the wild geese,
wedge-flying, brush the heaviest cloud with their wings.
the farmers move unhurried. the wood is in,
the hay has long been in, the barn lofts piled
up to the high windows, dripping yellow straws.
there will be plenty of time now, time that will smell of fires,
and drying leather, and catalogues, and apple cores.
the farmers clean their boots, and whittle, and drowse.

jeanne mcgahey