The fall has lingered with sunlit days even as the air has grown increasingly crisp. My neighborhood smells of woodsmoke, decaying leaves, and a sweet toasting sugar smell. (I am not making up this idealized autumn scent...I am yet to find the source of the sugary scent, but I have noticed it clinging around the house at the corner since mid-summer.) October's mornings have grown darker and sunsets have drawn in uncomfortably close upon the afternoons—and now the rain has begun to drizzle on autumn's smoldering embers.
The longer fall stays,
the longer winter's chill is held at bay.
Each leaf that nails its colors to the mast
forestalls the grey
makes autumn last
is a friend
Ally of each now tenuous morning of sun
that holds off the rain
grants reprieve
for even one more day.
