A Poem by Michael Pendragon

SUMMER'S END


Old man Summer's dead and gone,
Autumn rears her regal head,
Restless curls of violet, red, and gold.

Soon the harvest will be done,
Nature settles in to bed,
North wind blows her kiss of Winter cold.

Cornstalks brittle in the field,
Wild geese soar overhead,
Jack Frost spins ice-webs on morning grass.

July's hero drops his shield,
Scattered leaves, like battle-dead
Tell how lives, like seasons, too soon pass.

Carefree hours, tossed off in youth
Dwindle like the miser sun,
Fade like butterflies in Autumn's hand.

Hay-man bares his blackened tooth,
Pumpkins grin in wicked fun,
Ancient reapers march across the land.

Summer kisses on the vine
Dissipate like windblown tears,
Lost amid the threshing-storm of grain.

Laughter spilled like Summer wine
Echoes thru forgotten years,
Never to enchant love's lips again.

Cider-scented apple boughs
Bend 'neath skies of dapple-gray,
Stiffened spiders crumble into dust.

Cider-loosened men carouse,
Candy-appled children play,
Piled in leaves as crisp as quince pie crust.

Horse-drawn hayrides 'round the farm,
Songs set to a clip-clop beat,
Wagon wheels, like tiny seasons, turn;
Couples strolling arm-in-arm
Through the maze of bundled wheat,
Seeking where the Samhain fires burn.

'Round and 'round the seasons go
-- Winter, Springtime, Summer, Fall --
Endless voices ebb and flow
In a motley madrigal,
Singing hymns of sun and snow.
Rains may come and winds may blow
Still, the budding orchards know
Life renews for one and all.

Old man Summer's dead and gone
Buried 'neath the golden leaves,
Lost within a gypsy serenade.

Old men rise and carry on
Bowed and bent beneath the sheaves,
Battered scarecrows grimly on parade.

Like those shades, my youth is spent,
Flown like sprigs of Summer rain,
Lost with Indian-spice waves on the shore.

Soon, I too, shall fold my tent
Hit the open road again,
Chasing daydreams thru a closing door.

Soon I'll bed beneath the snow,
Gone where all the past years go,
Gone, like Summer days of yore,
Grasping for leaves that bloom no more.

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