Lost October

There simply have not been enough. Enough 'Golden Days' this year to fill my deep and thirsty need. October is a Favourite Month. The earthy fragrances. The rustling sound from the ground or goose good-byes from the skies. The first crackling fires of the season. Crunchy Apples. Cozy Sweaters. Wonderful things, all of them, but none compare to an azure sky and the vibrancy of delightfully colourful fall foilage lit by an autumnal sun. It causes me to pause, to halt, to breathe it in, to absorb it and horde it to combat the dull, dreary, draggy days of November. Autumn is Art. Artumn.

We have had too much rain. Too little blue. Too few trees that make me stop in wonder & awe. Too many leaves have left without celebration and too many trees are bare already. So I was especially glad for Sunday - happy to be with dear friends, walking through a woods that did have the leaves & the colour & the glory that I have been so desperately missing. Without feeding my soul, without a single Golden Day, how would I possibly get through what is to come.

More than twenty years ago I clipped this poem. It is the only poem other than 'Flanders Fields' that I know by heart. It has caused me - or perhaps allowed me, to put off work but never play on such a day. Even at the best of times, there are simply too few.

LOST OCTOBER

There never comes a day like this,

All gold and shining like a bubble in the sun,

That I recall the time I told you I'd no time to play,

Work must be done.

Work must be done, and there that gold day wasted,

And there, the mellowness of earth and sky and leaf and air,

Went hour by hour untasted.

For scruples sown too well in such as I.

And there October's brightness faded, turning

Her dear enchantment into dull November.

Setting in my brain one question burning.

What, now what do I remember,

Of work I bent above that day until,

It was too late to climb the golden hill.

Is this not about Life in general? I most definitely subscribe to this philosophy. Anyone who knows me, knows that I never, ever turn down a chance for Play - for chat, for tea, for nurturing friendships & relationships. Indeed, the memories that keep the Golden Days glowing in my heart, come not from the 'work I bent above', but from the wonderful folks that fill my world.