Autumn In Avalon's Garden: Welcome to Autumn in Avalon’s Garden ~ 2011

Fall Song

Another year gone, leaving everywhere its rich spiced residues: vines, leaves, the uneaten fruits crumbling damply in the shadows, unmattering back from the particular island of this summer, this NOW, that now is nowhere except underfoot, moldering in that black subterranean castle of unobservable mysteries - - -roots and sealed seeds and the wanderings of water. This I try to remember when time's measure painfully chafes, for instance when autumn flares out at the last, boisterous and like us longing to stay - - - how everything lives, shifting from one bright vision to another, forever in these momentary pastures. - Mary Oliver

"Lady Autumn, Queen of the Harvest, I have seen You in the setting Sun with Your long auburn tresses blowing in the cool air that surrounds You. Your crown of golden leaves is jeweled with amber, amethyst, and rubies. Your long, flowing purple robe stretches across the horizon. In Your hands You hold the ripened fruits. At Your feet the squirrels gather acorns. Black crows perch on Your outstretched arms. All around You the leaves are falling. You sit upon Your throne and watch the dying fires of the setting Sun shine forth its final colors in the sky. The purple and orange lingers and glows like burning embers. Then all colors fade into the twilight. Lady Autumn, You are here at last. We thank You for Your rewards. We have worked hard for these gifts. Lady Autumn, now grant us peace and rest." - Deirdre Akins