Autumn Intrada

It's sneaking up on you.

When summer starts 
to turn to fall,
it will do it in ways 
that it will fool us all.
Then, one day, 
it appears, 
and we will know.

At first, 
it steals a little sun, 
just to shorten the days, 
and then away it runs,
while yellow
in the treetops 
starts to grow.

The birds will flock 
when they read the clock,
they will ready their feathers 
and all get together,
and prepare to go
where there won’t be snow 
around.

But there’s still time 
for the sun and heat,
for a while, 
warmer days
will still be repeating,
but the signs of fall,
quickly they will all 
abound.


Poet note: I was listening to Johann Hermann Schein's Intrada à 5  when I got the inspiration for this poem.  In music, an intrada is an introduction, perhaps one associated with a processional or an entrance. The meter of the first two stanzas of the poem mirrors that of this piece.