Monday, October 24, 2011

Poem: A Change in Temperature


A Change in Temperature

It is thirty one degrees when you wake
and there is frost where yesterday
butterflies danced on flower petals.

This morning, the flowers are brown,
corpses that wave in the wind
leaving only memories and waiting

for the bitter cold
that lies just beyond the quarry walls.

You are dressed in flannel,
an adjustment to the change in seasons,
visible plaid with green and yellow and gray,

unlike the other adjustments you have made
to pain and loss and fear, invisible
changes in the weather,

for the bitter cold
that invades your very soul.

==============================

When I left Virginia yesterday afternoon, it was in the upper sixties and I drove a while with the convertible's top down. By the time I reached Vermont, at two in the morning, there was frost. From that change in temperature, came this poem.

The picture was taken at Natural Bridge, Virginia, just this weekend. You can click on it for a larger version.

Tom

2 comments:

gingerhillery@mac.com said...

Another good one! I love seasonal poems. PS procrastination is occasionally a prob for me, in regards to emails.

Margie said...

I enjoyed your poem, Tom.
Wonderful photo too!

Snowing here today, all our trees are weighed down with the snow.
Trying my best to keep the snow off as they are still so beautiful with fall colors.

Take care ....