Change and focus

Poems are a bit melancholy today. Such is life. Festivals end and reflection begins. Autumn brings a change of mood and focus upon quiet pastimes. The furnace pops on. The cat snuggles closer at night. The dog no longer spreads across the tile floor. Soon, crackling logs in the wood stove will send shadows dancing upon the ceiling.

Musings on an Autumn Afternoon

As autumn teases golden leaves to twist and fall,

one by one, our strengths and stories blow away

until we linger bare and brittle with the cold

and watch our possibilities go astray.

And though the tiny yellow bird still finds

her rest upon the naked gnarled trees,

she flutters off to seek a warmer place

to spend eternal summertime in peace.

And so it starts - this gradual decline,

that first we notice with a sad regret;

but know we must surrender to its rhyme;

and seek a sheltered place not sullied yet

Where weary minds meander through our dreams

and sit, enchanted, in the garden's heart

our work is done and ease begets our days

we nod and know we somehow did our part.

September

One last ride through aspens

gamboge and gold

heels down pulls my legs snug

around Abby’s flanks

she shudders at

the clatter of leaves

the smell of bear

the winter-tinged breeze

as we push upward

through a cyllacanth maze

meander toward the warming hut

where the world can be viewed

before we return to the barn

we saunter softly downward

so quietly a pair of does

hardly break their browse

we stop to regain our bearings

on a strange turn of trail

I press my hand against

my aching belly

only days ago

scraped of its fertility

I wonder if I should

be riding so soon

but the season wanes

with the sunlight

I gaze between Abby’s ears

to reckon the rocky, dusty downhill

after today Abby’s warmth

will no longer seep

into my legs

through leather tack

her sale will pay other bills.

(Don't worry. We didn't sell Abby, but kept her for many years until she went out on her own terms.)

If you enjoyed these poems, please feel free to wander through the Ring Around the Basin Archives. The photos are by Sue Cauhape: top, Tahoe Donner swing on the cross-country/equestrian trail; bottom, one of many wooded trails in Tahoe Donner.