A New Haiku for You

So I am not a poet. But I love haikus. I do not love fall, but it is so beautiful outside that  I feel like a traitor to Summer. I got a hunkering for caramel apples the minute I saw one. Popcorn balls? Not me, although I feel a twinge of country girl inside, begging to come out and pick a pumpkin. W-A-Y out here in good ol’ Ballwin, you can see the trees turning. Golds, bright yellows, oranges and pinks. It is a sherbet wonderland. The sad part comes soon.

Raking them.

It usually takes about 20 bags to get rid of the leaves that fall into our yard from our neighbors houses. I chalk it up to a good work out. But before that happens, you have days like this. Days when you can go out to your front porch and listen. Something is coming. You can smell it in the air, and it whispers through the leaves. Soon. Soon there will be no camouflage; you will be out in the open for all eyes to see. No more hiding on your back porch in the morning if you don’t feel like getting out of your pjs. No more stalking to your friends to surprise them for a visit. They know you are coming, they saw you down the road through the jail gate like sticks that seem to intertwine through the sky, where once was a full canopy of comfort and safety and shade from the sun.

Now we will shiver. Bring out those sweaters! For girls, I see excitement as they drag out their fall clothes. Yay! It’s boot season again! Dressing in layers can be fun, but I like sun on my skin and St. Louis is definitely an area that has mostly cloudy days from November through March.

I cannot fight it, so today I must enjoy it. I will grab my daughter and we will take pictures of those leaves turning brightly festive. Maybe I will print them and cover my wall for color when the dismal days of winter hit. I will cut my perennials low to the ground and anxiously await there tiny heads to peek through and yawn, waiting to smile towards the new spring sun and greet me with their long leave arms.

Until then, you won’t see me much. An old bear I will become, hiding, crouching, staying under the covers getting warm.

Fall is glistening

Leaves turning gold tell stories

Get your sweaters out!

Jess