A Country Ride To Port Hope Poem by Deanna Samuels

The spent corn had turned to golden brown
The scene around appeared well into autumn
Foliage has changed from summer greens to autumnal splendor
Last pickings of vegetable crops no longer tender
Pumpkins abound for the forthcoming Halloween
This year curtailed, children only, regardless whether adults keen
Packages of goodies and chocolate treats
Advisably informed, should be left out on table on the street
In Bowmanville, salmon are in midst of swimming upstream
Combating man made leaping ladders and hooks of fishing team
Small towns and villages almost bereft of shoppers
Cafe patios cleared of umbrellas and summer tables
Apple orchards heavy with summer produce just a month ago
Stand naked of their fruit, looking forlorn at every row
Brown bronze crisp leaves thickly cover roadsides
Light gusts of wind blowing them around far and wide
The whole country landscape as far as the eye can see
A colorful treat, a palette ablaze of each and every bush and tree
Port Hope, by the lakeside, is a welcoming town
Interesting eclectic restaurants and shops abound
A local theatre of highly acclaimed note
Brings people from miles around on a regular rote
Port Hope too, has its salmon attraction
Dozens watching from atop of bridge construction
Seeing these poor creatures attempting up stream massive leaps
Dozens sadly failing, ending life by water's edge, piled in a heap
And high above, turkey vultures fly about, circling, eyeing
Hovering, waiting to swoop, to devour - nature's way of cleansing
Shortly, out of the town and away from such sad scene
Memories faded from that encounter of just where had been
Back out into the countryside, sun still shining brightly
Drew in the late afternoon's glorious autumn sublimely
Shadows lengthening, the clear evening sky turns to light indigo
Returned home on coast road besides a calm dark inky blue Lake Ontario


Written en-route to Port Hope and beyond, Ontario - 17th October 2020