MonoMonday : Autumn

I love the fitful gust that shakes
The casement all the day,
And from the glossy elm tree takes
The faded leaves away,
Twirling them by the window pane
With thousand others down the lane.

I love to see the shaking twig
Dance till the shut of eve,
The sparrow on the cottage rig,
Whose chirp would make believe
That Spring was just now flirting by
In Summer's lap with flowers to lie.

I love to see the cottage smoke
Curl upwards through the trees,
The pigeons nestled round the cote
On November days like these;
The cock upon the dunghill crowing,
The mill sails on the heath a-going.

The feather from the raven's breast
Falls on the stubble lea,
The acorns near the old crow's nest
Drop pattering down the tree;
The grunting pigs, that wait for all,
Scramble and hurry where they fall.
John Clare - Autumn


It's John Clare's birthday today, so how could I avoid referencing his gorgeous words for this Mono Monday challenge. He was born 222 years ago, and found his Awen in the natural world and the English countryside, then being trampled on by the new industrial age. Nothing changes, and yet everything.

I love autumn, as I love the spring. Change, growth and decay call to me. I find the summer oppressive and winter simply too cold. For me, the sweep of the pendulum is preferable to the extent of the swing. Find me in the crumbling crunchy leaves and the hilltop mists, in the dewdrop and the rainbow.

A tip o' the hat to irunlykagirl for holding the challenge space this week, and you can see all the entries here.