Cold And Dark Evening In Autumn Poem by Elizabeth Padillo Olesen

Darkness envelops outside and it's dark inside
Even if this lamp shines over my computer,
I still feel the cold and dark autumn
Now claiming its rule over spring and summer.

In the garden and across the pavement
Lie the fallen red and yellow leaves, waiting
for caring hands to collect them for compost;
Burn or deliver them to containers for garbage.

It is cold inside and it's dark outside
My heart longs for bursting flowers,
for butterflies, for green fields and singing birds,
for long days with freedom and sunshine.

Drops of rain kiss the ground and our skin -
Announcing the cold and dark days in the air.
Just be prepared for another change:
the coming of much colder,
longer and darker winter.
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October 18,2016