Au Revoir Madam....

(sonnet #'s CLXXXVII, CLXXXVIII and CLXXXIX)

Stanza I


Bold summer's carefree reverie: along 
The dusty roads, beside the hedges, through
The hazy meadows where the path oft grew
Too small to trace, and daisy's faces, song 
And dance, while chasing butterflies the long
Days through, enhanced her passion's play; where blue
Skies spread her brassy glow around and drew
A picture of Love's intense heights belong 
Her charms. She enters with a flourish, and leaves
With sultry tang; the reins unwilling yields
To autumn's charms as waning warmth bereaves
Of freedom in more clothing; her fair fields
Of green to crackling brown in harvest's eves
A wistful joy evoke, where Time's scythe wields.



II


Fair fields of green to crackling brown give way
As summer bids adieu with sultry pout;
Heat waves assail no more, as if her clout
To autumn's charms now yielding, fatal sway
Wield ne'ermore; darling mem'ries in array
As verdant shades to red and gold about
The path spread underfoot, or other route
Take, chasing in mid-air wind's varied play.
Chill breezes temper naked freedom near
And far, the hedges too revealing her
Fair secrets, as the picture of that dear
Embrace, bereft of her rich trapping's lure
Stands bare of all her sweets. Time's scythe the year
E'er reaps. Yet she'll return in all hauteur.



III


Though Time's scythe overtakes fair summer now:
A rainbow makes of all her green allure;
And cheats the barefoot tread; carefree bestirs
To labour in the harvest fields; with plows
The ground returns to winter's bare, each bough
As hedges dear so clearly seen; inters
Her sweets; the path to learning wends, a blur
Of study, ne'ermore chasing dreams, all bows.
Yet in her late demise, when summer ends,
A promise of her loved renew'l she leaves:
In seeds and bulbs and stubs of buds defends
Against this death. The spread of her fruits eaves
Bedecks, a picture of her cheer extends,
As "Au Revoir" we whisper while she grieves.

06/07Aug11