The coolness of the air
brings sudden autumn,
a memory as strong as taste
of longing, of excitement
for things that might unfold
as they are borne along the quickening
fall of the year into endings
or new beginnings

A taste of bracing challenges
and rising skill that meets them,
the ramping up of inner heat
to warm us through
the passage of the cold
and take us once again
around the turn.

©Wendy Mulhern
Sept 3, 2014