Before the month steals away in the dark of Halloween night, let’s celebrate the beautiful time of the year that we call October. In a pair of poems by Phebe A. Holder, the end of the month gets its due and honor, and a moment of contemplative rumination fleshes out before us. Too often October is the anti-thesis of March – going in like a lamb and going out like a lion. We like lions in these parts, so the end is just as enjoyable as the beginning, and far more dramatic. (We like drama too.) After this week, the rush of the holiday season will be upon us. Let’s take a pause to slow it down and take in every last day of October sunshine.
The softened light, the veiling haze,
The calm repose of autumn days,
Steal gently o’er the troubled breast,
Soothing life’s weary cares to rest.
~Phebe A. Holder, “A Song of October”
A brooding calm in all the air,
A dreamy quiet everywhere…
A golden glow to light the day
That fades in purple mists away—
This soothing calm, this presence bright,
October’s sweet and mellow light.
~Phebe A. Holder
