professor

Sep 30, 2008 ⭐ View statistics (Premium feature)

First day of Autumn

A cold, damp, attention-seeking air

curls around the vitals of my calm

with threatening chill of season’s care.

The breezy softness of summer balm

lost in its aroma of perfumed heat,

tasted by this morning bitter-sweet.

Trees drop their first dead messengers,

drifting slowly in free spiralled fall.

Ground entices the floating dancers

with the wetness of a dew-dropped squall,

and grasps in clammy outstretched fingers

life’s dying breath – yet beauty lingers.

— professor, Sep 30, 2008

About This Poem

About the Author

Region, Country: China/Sichuan/Chengdu, CHN

Favorite Poets: Yeats, Elliot, Auden, Keats, Shelley, Byron

Critiques

easylife_2

17 years 8 months ago

This is a sublime work of art!

I really enjoyed the write,I consider the imagery as very vivid and I really liked the last line 'yet beauty lingers',it really set my day going.Thank you for this write.

professor

17 years 8 months ago

Glad I set your day

going right Easylife and yes i rather liked the final thought myself when it came to me lol. Thanks for the appreciation. BW Keith

whitetea

17 years 8 months ago

>

Everything flows in this, at the same time seems like it always should have been there. I loved this.

professor

17 years 8 months ago

Thankyou Whitetea

that was a beautiful way to express how timeless i hoped to make it feel for the reader. BW Keith

Kailashana

17 years 8 months ago

Nice to see you returning

Nice to see you returning here Prof, and to your poetry. It is, a cure for all that ails the heart, isn't it? The last page of September falls flows through melancholy.. ~A

professor

17 years 8 months ago

although it is not for me a cure for all that ails the heart lol. The last day of September indeed and the season of mellow fruitfullness and change is again well and truly upon us. For me poetry is often just a reflection on how all things seem to be in flux and changing constantly. BW Keith

infinite_dwarf

17 years 8 months ago

Keith

Welcome back, my friend. We sure have missed you! I like the last line, in which you state that there is still beauty even amongst death. So true! ~Jess K. ---------------------------------------------------- "If you've ever emptied the back of your pickup truck by driving backward really fast and slamming on the brakes, you might be a redneck" - Jeff Foxworthy Bill Engvall: "that's how we moved"

professor

17 years 8 months ago

Thanks Jess

Sweet of you to say that I have been missed....there is indeed still beauty amongst death. BW Keith

Janice Pearce

17 years 8 months ago

Keith

Yet another excellent write here simply: Beautiful! "There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you." Will Rogers

professor

17 years 8 months ago

Thanks

Janice, glad you enjoyed it. Keith

Mark

17 years 8 months ago

mmmm

that is my comment. I feel more at ease with you here, Keith. Don't stay away nearly as long if you ever need to OK? Mark Old bandits are really young rascals.

professor

17 years 8 months ago

Thankyou Mark

that was the kind of comment that makes you feel really warm inside. I will try to stay around more and am flattered my presence here makes you more at ease. Keith

Barbara Writes

17 years 8 months ago

Autumn

Smiles:) Barbara For beauty, autumn is my favorite season enjoy the transition in you poem,love the rhyming. Glad to see you are back and writing good poetry again.

professor

17 years 8 months ago

Thanks Barbara

am happy to evoke a smile. Keith

Rett

17 years 8 months ago

Professor, bravo!

Congrats on spotlight. This poem truly deserves it. Wonderfully written and it riveted me from start to finish. Beautiful. *spitting out rivet* Respectfully, Rett: "Two things stand in the way of a liberal doing what he thinks is best for people. One, he doesn't have enough power and two, we have too much freedom. If he figures out how to overcome either then we are in real trouble." Rett

professor

17 years 8 months ago

Praise indeed

Thankyou Rett, I was naturally very happy to make the spotlight again after having been away for so long.Glad you enjoyed it. Keith

infinite_dwarf

17 years 8 months ago

All right Keith!

What a way to make a comeback, man. Well done on spotlight. Such an amazing poem. ~Jess K. ---------------------------------------------------- "If you've ever emptied the back of your pickup truck by driving backward really fast and slamming on the brakes, you might be a redneck" - Jeff Foxworthy Bill Engvall: "that's how we moved"

professor

17 years 8 months ago

Thanks Jess

I suppose i never really stop writing poetry..at least not in my head...but i did need a break for a while. There are times when life itself becomes the poetry and there is no need to write. Keith

Kailashana

17 years 8 months ago

Interesting, during these

Interesting, during these times, do you feel you are being written or that you are writing your life? Is it the essence of joy and bliss? Is it something else? Or is it about time...and choosing (or having no choice) to write? I do, however, agree that poetry begins and ends in our *head*. Same as life; however life manifests as experience (of which poetry is written), of course. Be well my friend.. ~A

professor

17 years 8 months ago

Many questions Anna

and i dont have all the answers other than to say life sweeps you up sometimes in a proverbial whirlwind and there is no choice but to twist and turn living the experience of it. There is simply no time to "stop and stare" or assimilate or even describe. But all experience is locked away of course and in time when it has been digested and cogitated upon it can often find its way back to the pen. But I am well thank you A. Keith

rider68

17 years 8 months ago

Hi Keith

To be able to read again the works you offer, has enriched not only the forum, but our hearts, superb write, again i find myself saying that we should have a hall of fame....... Very Best Regards..... Peter ~~~"I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday, and I love today."~~~

professor

17 years 8 months ago

Thanks so much

Peter for this heartfelt accolade, i will try to live up to it. BW Keith

prayersbyPatty

17 years 8 months ago

Keith

What a wonderful poem, your words reeled me in and kept me there. I love the ending about beauty in death. No wonder everyone missed you. I am looking forward to more poems from you. Patty

professor

17 years 8 months ago

Thanks Patty

So glad you liked it and there will, of course, be more although i dont think i will put back all the old ones i took off when i had a break from writing. BW Keith

W.C.Wampler

17 years 8 months ago

first day autumn poem,

Prof, let me add to this long list of praise. In a time when I don't understand so much of the free style work, you shine through not only with very effective imagery, but also a special, even difficult, rhyme pattern. A timeless poem, right on time. I'll keep trying. Thanks...wcw

professor

17 years 8 months ago

Thanks WCW

and good to see that you have joined the site. I look forward to reading your work. BW Keith

themoonman

17 years 8 months ago

Hi Keith...

glad to see you back and with a bang! trees drop their first dead messengers.. loved that line... made chills run up the sides of my face kind of line... welcome back... Richard

professor

17 years 8 months ago

Hey Richard

Good to see you too. I will work on the chills-evocation strategy lol. Thanks, Keith

Eduardo Cruz

17 years 8 months ago

Professor,

I loved the transition from glorious heat, to a spiraling dead leaf. really worded beautifully. This is my first reading of your poetry, and it is damn good! Congrats on the Spot Light! thanks Eddie "do as the once barren tree: flourish and like the planted seed: rise" Jose de Diego

professor

17 years 8 months ago

Thanks Eddie

for your appreciation of this piece and i look forward to reading some of your work. BW Keith

Electric Blue

17 years 7 months ago