I am autumn
come sit here with me
bring your silence
as summer recedes
give us listen
my speeches of color
each outburst
a soundless explosion
reflecting the thoughts
that I know to be
troubling you
draped with despair
helpless grief
at the dying of summer
and with it its promise
to make you a place
in its ancient admired
beds of beauty
a place of respect
an inclusion
in cultural gardens
conveying a dignity
long in abeyance
withheld by ambivalent
warm sun and sky
too preoccupied
with their familiars
to recognize differences
strengthen their realm
that diversity serves
to enrich their dominion
their vast astronomical
prelacy pointless
unless it will bless both
the silent and vocal
the dreary and vivid
the weak and the strong
I am autumn
come sit here with me
mark my colors
these old and new
foreign and
native phrased hues
brief reminders
that illustrate why
life is better in spectrum
my job is transition
my joy to recite of those
unfulfilled promises
dying does not
lead to death
but a fading to sleep
for a season of rest
a few months of reflection
to contemplate coolly
the culpable civics
mistakenly geared
to aversion of change
I am autumn
come sit here with me
let’s compose a new world
a new portrait of words
to arrive with
fresh ethical flourish
of wider compassion
awakened in spring