An Altar for Autumn

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;

To-morrow's wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.

The crows above the forest call;
To-morrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow,
Make the day seem to us less brief.

Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know;
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;

One from our trees, one far away;
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!

For the grapes' sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost--
For the grapes' sake along the wall.

 

-Robert Frost, October

 I think in this poem, Frost is wishing for autumn to slow down, to hold off winter for just a little bit longer, to let summer's fruits stay ripe and plump and not fade and shrivel away. He's asking the trees to not let the leaves fall quite so quickly, just a few throughout the day. But to me, "slow! slow!" means "hang on autumn, there's no rush. Stick around for a while and let us enjoy your beauty for more than just a month or two. Keep those jewels dancing from branch to ground all year round!" I won't miss summer, I just want to soak up the orange and crimson.

""Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all.""

- Stanley Horowitz

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower."

- Albert Camus

"Autumn, the year's last, loveliest smile."

- William Cullen Bryant

*these images are not mine. My dear friend Google image search helped me find them.