Sing a song of autumn

Can you hear that melody?  It is rising from the hills and valleys, thick with morning mist, heavy in the early evening with sunlight like golden honey and the promise of coolness on the breeze.  I was loafing this afternoon on the west facing porch.  I had things to do.  I always have things to do.  But, somehow I could not move from my chair there on the porch.  I looked out over the hills that dipped and rose toward the west.  It is true.  The trees this year are not very colorful, but the weather is absolutely perfect for porch sitting and letting the mind empty itself of any thought of work or planning or care.  I am reminded of the fable of the ants and the grasshopper.  You know the one:  The grasshopper is playing his fiddle all summer long while the ants gather grain and food for the winter.  When winter comes the grasshopper is starving and sees the ants distributing their food among their fellows.  He asks for something to eat, but the ants scold him for not being prepared.  And the moral of the story?  Prepare for the future.

Ah.  Now that is a laudable sentiment.  And I am all for looking ahead.  But I can not resist taking some time during these golden days of autumn to let the season sing around me while I sit and do little or nothing.  It is a glorious season.  Days are warm and  breezy.  Mornings can bring frost and chill but as soon as the sun climbs toward noonday we pull off our sweatshirts and enjoy the feeling of sun on our faces.  It makes me drowsy and calls for a mid-day nap out there in the middle of the field, down under a tree where my arm serves as a pillow.  Afternoon slides into evening and chores wait until I've had my fill of sunset on the hills of Caney Mountain.  Night comes in small steps, darkening the sky until stars come out one by one, winking in the clear open air.  I can hear the deer bedding down for the night at the edge of the wood.  Crickets are chirping.  And a soft breeze blows a little cooler, whispering to me, winter is coming....winter is coming....better be prepared.

I hear the song of autumn.  And carefully I tuck the gold and green and dazzling light into the special place I keep near my heart.  And some winter day when the snow is blowing and gray is all I see from east to west, some day when the sun doesn't shine, I will take this autumn song out and play it and remember this beautiful time of year.