The leaves change here
Oranges and reds popping out
Amongst stubborn green
The wind shifts
Autumn comes to call
The world leans in here
Demands life to slow down
The quiet season is coming
The world makes ready its winter bed
Telling you to pull out your blankets
Candles and hearthfires
Demanding preparations for long nights
Wood smoke and hot chocolates
And much needed rest
gws
Seasons are changing
I’m surprised to find myself In
In a spring awakening
Possibilities bloom
While dreams grow deep roots
-gws
This brief, beautiful
Preview of delightful Autumn
With her crisp chilled nights
And gray-sky mornings
Will be brutally interrupted
By Summer strolling
Back onto the stage
Despite having taken her bow
For a sweaty encore
That nobody wanted
-gws
Days grow shorter
Mornings and evenings delightfully chilled
Long afternoons warm, hazy, and tea-colored
Cool breezes dance from the sea into the valley
Making layered wardrobes a must this time of year
The world starts to quiet down
Though restlessly at first
Unwilling to relinquish summer's vitality
Harvest season half complete
The trees begin debuting their fall finery
Resplendent in reds, golds, and browns
As purple hues return to sunset skies
The golden hour earns its name now
As the last dandelion seeds drift through dried grasses awash in glowing rays
Shadows deepen as homes reflect amber radiance in westward facing window panes
Preparing to welcome night's elongating visits earlier each day
The resting season is arriving
It carries with it ghostly tales told under cloud-filtered moonlight
Candlelight and story craft
Blankets, books, and honeyed tea
Soups, stews, and baked goods of all kinds
Air laden with aromatic spices and yeast
The world grows gradually quieter
Chirping crickets slow their masterpieces from allegro to adagio
Singing the world into a calmer pace before putting away their instruments
Fall readies to welcome dreamers and philosophers
Writers and witches
All the laborers of the mind and spirit
Into its gentle comforting arms
-gws
Warm lazy afternoons in late summer
Hazy and tea-colored at the golden hour
Dragonflies dancing through the tall grass
While crickets hum contentedly
Air scented with summer earth
And hints of coming autumn rain
The world readying for sleep
Eagerly awaiting the slowing of things
-gws
The first spring rain falls from a darkened sky
Washing away the heaviness from the air
Bringing deliverance of spirit
Offering itself as balm for my weary heart
Through its steady patter beyond my open window
Petrichor rising to ground me
Cool and damp air greeting too hot skin
I close my eyes
Imagining my complete surrender to it
Making an offering of all that scars me
All that weighs so heavily on my shoulders
I welcome this renewal
This forgiveness
This peace
I invite this healing
Surrender to this gentleness
Allow this act of cleansing
Readying my world to reawaken
Readying me to bloom again
-gws
Autumn prepares to make its bow
As December takes the stage
With evergreen and holly crown
And bonfires ablaze
The cloak of winter deep and white
With whispered grace arrives
While all good folks abide long nights
As snow falls on the pines
Let not the darkness weight your brow
Do light your lamps ablaze
For soon the Solstice will arrive
To return the longer days
-gws
"It's Spring!" the little songbird sang, excitement trilling in her voice. "It is winter," groaned the sleepy sapling whose roots were enshrouded in icy soil. "But the sun is SO warm," whistled the songbird. "Yes, but the ground is still SO cold," creaked the sapling "Puff up, my small friend, and sleep with me a little longer. When my buds start to sprout, we will both sing a song of welcome for Spring." So the songbird tucked up into a nook in the saplings branches and together they hunkered down to wait for Spring to truly arrive. -gws
Gray mornings where the fog veils the landscape in its cloak of chilly mystery and muffles the sounds of a busy fall commute -gws
(A Northern California Call for Autumn’s Arrival)
Oh Northwest Wind Bring forth your breeze And with your breath make summer ease Oh Northwest Wind Gift your crisp, biting air That tells us Fall will soon come to bear Oh Northwest Wind Please do not tease Instead, herald the changing of the leaves Oh Northwest Wind Return us our foggy blanket So we may start dreaming of harvest banquets Oh Northwest Wind Please place kisses on our skin So Summer knows its rule is at an end Oh Northwest Wind Time to dance through the pines While we bundle in sweaters and sip rich wine Oh Northwest Wind Please bless us from above So that we may give thanks with Autumnal love -gws
Words Wishes and Wisdom 