October's Fairs Are Whirling In The Dark (Revised) Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

october's Fairs are whirling in the dark

snapdragon colours firework sped

crown all the parks and we feel wistful

one by one as if our dreaming days were done

then God touches the leaves with golden arpeggios

and we are overcome;

the moon is lined in cream.

and when it rains it's autumn rain descends

and the earth gives forth a scent

redolent and fairylike as in the former days

past Time and memory's moss, grazed with the stillness

where we wandered

seeking no one's praise but His

who made the october earth to be like this

a colour wheel fizzing in the cooling dark

and all the children in love with dusk,

the blue, the deep raspberry shadows.

mary angela douglas 3 september 2022; 27 february 2023