Saturday 23 August 2008

Late August

Somnolent summer’s end –
autumn hides in sun
bleached grass and floating thistledown.

These swallows will always swoop
above these harvest fields of ochre
in honeyed flight.

Leaves kaleidoscope, poised
for the ecstatic fall
into decay.


You can read an earlier poem about the end of summer on this blog here.

14 comments:

Art and Poetry said...

Very lovely I like the bit about the Swallows best.

Bye!

Anonymous said...

You have captured that end of the season feeling so well. The kaleidoscope leaves is such a fitting image.

Anonymous said...

Considering what fermentation can lead to, I always feel like there's a strong connection between decay and ecstasy, yes. Nice poem.

d. moll, l.ac. said...

Actually I do find Fall ecstatic......

Anonymous said...

Juliet,

I love this poem, especially "the ecstatic fall into decay". Mmmm . . . .

polona said...

oh yes... that's exactly how it feels...

Janice Thomson said...

Well said Juliet - love the alliteration too. The imagery is just fantastic especially the last verse.
Beautiful.

RG said...

Doggone it - come on - we have hardly yet had a summer!!!!

We'll be wet and decay laden soon enough!

Lucy said...

rabbits guy's right, but it's still a lovely poem - at least reminds us how it should be!

AscenderRisesAbove said...

isnt it interesting how a word like kaleidoscope in a poem can change it back to nostalgia? at least it did for me. i saw the twirling...

Odessa said...

kaleidoscope leaves --how lovely! i love all the images.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful imagery. It is the best of seasons.

jem said...

'Leaves kaleidoscope' is a really striking phrase, active and attractive at the same time.

Susan Richardson said...

Beautiful imagery - and it really peaks in the last stanza for me. Gorgeous.