October's Bright Blue Weather!

Hello everyone – 

October has returned, and with it come autumn splendor, cool nights, and pleasant sunny days. Here are some poems to celebrate the tenth month of the calendar year!

 

“A Calendar of Sonnets: October”

By Helen Hunt Jackson                

 

The month of carnival of all the year,

When Nature lets the wild earth go its way,

And spend whole seasons on a single day.

The spring-time holds her white and purple dear;

October, lavish, flaunts them far and near;

The summer charily her reds doth lay

Like jewels on her costliest array;

October, scornful, burns them on a bier.

The winter hoards his pearls of frost in sign

Of kingdom: whiter pearls than winter knew,

Or empress wore, in Egypt's ancient line,

October, feasting 'neath her dome of blue,

Drinks at a single draught, slow filtered through

Sunshiny air, as in a tingling wine!

 

“October’s Bright Blue Weather”

By Helen Hunt Jackson

 

O suns and skies and clouds of June,

And flowers of June together,

Ye cannot rival for one hour

October’s bright blue weather;

 

When loud the bumble-bee makes haste,

Belated, thriftless vagrant,

And Golden-Rod is dying fast,

And lanes with grapes are fragrant;

 

When Gentians roll their fringes tight

To save them for the morning,

And chestnuts fall from satin burrs

Without a sound of warning;

 

When on the ground red apples lie

In piles like jewels shining,

And redder still on old stone walls

Are leaves of woodbine twining;

 

When all the lovely wayside things

Their white-winged seeds are sowing,

And in the fields, still green and fair,

Late aftermaths are growing;

 

When springs run low, and on the brooks,

In idle golden freighting,

Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush

Of woods, for winter waiting;

 

When comrades seek sweet country haunts,

By twos and twos together,

And count like misers, hour by hour,

October’s bright blue weather.

 

O suns and skies and flowers of June,

Count all your boasts together,

Love loveth best of all the year

October’s bright blue weather.

 

“October’s Party”

By George Cooper (1840-1927)

 

    October gave a party;

    The leaves by hundreds came—

    The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,

    And leaves of every name.

    The Sunshine spread a carpet,

    And everything was grand,

    Miss Weather led the dancing,

    Professor Wind the band.

 

    The Chestnuts came in yellow,

    The Oaks in crimson dressed;

    The lovely Misses Maple

    In scarlet looked their best;

    All balanced to their partners,

    And gaily fluttered by;

    The sight was like a rainbow

    New fallen from the sky.

 

    Then, in the rustic hollow,

    At hide-and-seek they played,

    The party closed at sundown,

    And everybody stayed.

    Professor Wind played louder;

    They flew along the ground;

    And then the party ended

    In jolly "hands around."

 

Roadway to Lindsey Lake in David Crockett State Park, located a half mile west of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee (taken in autumn 2008). Image Credit: Public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

 

Enoy October’s bright blue weather this weekend! 😊

 

Rob