Fall, you have arrived. With very mixed feelings we welcome you. Your gourds, your squash, and your pumpkin-fucking-everything. Your pretty leaves, your picked apples, your cozy bales of hay. You snap us to attention with your brisk cool days, your biting breeze, and the way you plunge us into closed windows, even if we’re not quite ready to let this summer go. It was such a good one, you see, and no one wants the good ones to end.
Yet you are seductive and beautiful, especially at first, when we need a reprieve from the heat and humidity. Your early nights, so perfect for sleeping, are the stuff of cricket-chirping ease. Your days, when they are sunny and the sky is blue, are more richly shaded than the brightest summer morning. Yet we know what else you carry, what storms you bring. For that we say welcome with the slightest bit of trepidation. Yes, we still fear you, like the first day of school or the impending arrival of a hurricane. Go easy on us.
