Autumn Poem

Autumn Hiatus



The cabin nestles into the mountainside,


Snug like a raisin in dough,


Porch jutting over vetch and yellow primroses.


Tumbling sounds of the nearby river


Are amplified in the morning air;


Enthused anglers snap lines across rocky banks


Challenging the early trout.


Fog hovers, beginning to burn away,


As promise of autumn heat rests on the valley floor,


I step out onto the porch bards, barefoot,


Feel the daybreak, see an Ozark dawn.


A squirrel scampers off redwood boards to oak limbs,


Scolding me for interrupting his solitude.


I sip black, earth-tasting tea from a warm mug,


Watching steam rise in benediction to the day.


From the corner of my eye,


I note running shoes waiting, silently calling me.


But I ignore the urging and wrap the morning


Around my shoulders like a warm shawl.


The day’s run will wait;


This autumn moment will not.


This poem originally published in an autumn issue of The Ozark Mountaineer.


******Just got some great news in the mailbox. Found a contract for a poem to TEA, a Magazine. Yeah, for me...can't wait to see it in print.