'Falling Horse Chestnuts'

[September]

Hello, hope you are all well. I thought I'd submit for you a piece of writing I did two years ago, at this time of year. You see, I love autumn, and that's what it is about! Its title is the thread title, and it was inspired by the sound of those horse chestnuts falling to the ground as I sat in a local wood, idly musing how much it had changed in the year. Hope you enjoy it!


Falling Horse Chestnuts.

So comes a wet gale to shake the most stubborn fruit from its hold on the boughs, and with it fall leaves in their clusters, spiralling earthward as part of an Autumn symphony. The wind has a chill bite not felt since spring's birth, and the sharp gusts deny all the qualities of lazy summer evenings. The moon of a sudden looks silver and cold, the wind scours away the lingering cloud to reveal a night tapestry that is reminiscent of winter.
How is it a night sky can capture a season?
Soon the ground will be littered, branches bare. Perchance the rain may come flecked with sleet, beating at the grasses bent and brown. For English folk a queer time of burning effigies and plummeting daylight, twining with a time of year they say shares the thinnest walls with the other side.
Yet it is also a time for celebration, none can deny that need even into the yawning jaws of winter. Roaring fires under mischevious skies, faces buffed red, perhaps by cold - certainly by cheer as humanity embraces an impish delight. The scents of bonfire smoke and leaf mulch make a happy couple indeed, and shadows dance on orange faces.
Now, where once stood eager bluebells and crowding ramsons, even the himalayan balsam has risen and abated, its late season yield of pollen now depleted and its seeds scattered. Now it is the time of milky toadstools glowing in moonlight. Mornings become crisper and hint at frosts to come.
But Summer yet strives to cling, where it can, and a lull in the Autumn bluster occasionally allows a last stand. An afternoon plucked from August drapes the hillside in late season finery. Delicate wavy-hair grass becomes a rolling ocean of gold, broken by banks of jostling ling, its tiny pink blossoms fading but not forgotten. Cattle graze the fields while the fair weather holds, free of mid-summers clouds of biting insects, and meadow pipits battle the breeze.
Pity and joy, both are one as the heart embraces summer before its long absence.
This rare time of year, a delicate balance between the fruitfulness of high summer and the slumber of icy deep winter, tugs at the heart with a magical 'something', somewhere between bliss and sorrow. We are invited to stop thinking about where we are going for an interval, and reflect instead on where we have been. There is a calm stillness to be found in this season, even amongst the lively squall lines that roll in off the ocean.
I implore you, in this season; wait for a still clear day, when the colours of autumn are in full display. Gather with people close to you around a fire that evening, and make merry as the sun sets into the magical gloaming. Good food and wine, perhaps a spot of something more potent to warm the soul in the chill October night. Revel in the stars and celebrate this precious time where all life is changing about you.

[stirling]

Thanks for that september,a lovely piece of writing,really well expressed.
Best from mike.

[Meles meles]

Just your opening;

Quote. So comes a wet gale to shake the most stubborn fruit from its hold on the boughs, and with it fall leaves in their clusters, spiralling earthward as part of an Autumn symphony. The wind has a chill bite not felt since spring's birth, and the sharp gusts deny all the qualities of lazy summer evenings. The moon of a sudden looks silver and cold, the wind scours away the lingering cloud to reveal a night tapestry that is reminiscent of winter.
How is it a night sky can capture a season? End quote.

That did it for me, a Great way to open.

Superb, Well wrote

[September]

Thank you stirling and Meles meles for your comments, I am very happy you enjoyed it. As you can probably tell, I love this time of the year and find it inspires me more than any other season.