Here is a poem I wrote nearly a year ago, October 2, 2010. I thought about it this weekend with the sudden chill in the air.
Saturday night on the porch
Fall has surprised us.
I like surprises, when
they are made of cinnamon
sticks in hot chocolate, my breath
visible in frosted air, a friend
on the porch shivering in a scarf.
Another sip of hot chocolate
and I remember that even near the city,
sirens and rushing people and trash
on the ground, the garden in front
of our porch is wild with untamed shrubs.
Baby's breath bloomed last week,
another surprise.
As I think back on it, a lot of things surprised me last fall, some good and some hard. Almost a year gone since all that now, and there is a lot of beauty and newness in my life, and a lot on the cusp of change. Who knows what will have to die, and what will grow this fall. I'm glad to know one thing I didn't know for sure last fall, that I have a friend who will sit beside my on the porch for the rest of my life through the trash and tumult and the new blooms.
