these are the gray days

These are the gray days,

When the sun hides its face,

And the light fades from the world.

These are the days when the trees

Shed their coats of gold and copper,

When their breathing slows, and their limbs grow weary,

And their avian children take to the wing.

These are the days when the dried leaves, like field mice,

Scuttle and scurry along the pavement,

Hiding behind trees and ducking into sewer grates

To escape the razor talons of the frigid autumn wind.

These are the days when the land

Wraps itself in a white cocoon and sleeps, sleeps,

Sleeps, dreaming of the day when it will emerge

Transformed - verdant and resplendent.

Then there will be green and blue and yellow again,

And then there will be robins and flowers and new blades of grass,

And then the sun will smile and the land will wake,

And then, and then, and then…

But that is then and this is now,

And now there are only the gray days,

When the sun hides its face,

And the light fades from the world.

***

This was written in 2003. Posted for Throwback Thursday!