When It Is Fall Poem by Raymond Farrell

When it is fall
The boughs
Of the apple trees
Dip low
And the back roads
Here and there
Are strewn
With fallen apples
And the sumac
Seed pods
Are ripe and scarlett.

Time to shoulder my pack
And go
Up and down
Roads and fields
Collecting wild apples
And sumac seed pods
To make apple sauce
And extract
The juice of the sumac.

Fall is a glorious
Time of year
When nature
Yields her bounty
And displays
Her most vivid colors
Temperate days
(At times with a bit of frost)
Offer respite
From the heat of summer
With comfortable temperatures
To work
Gathering in the harvest
And getting ready
For the coming winter.