Tribute to the Aged

Autumn arrives-

    we are blessed with a summer's day,

We grasp it to our bosom, 

          and say please stay.

Knowing soon will follow

     winters stormy blast.

Wondering is there strength inside,

          enough of it to last

Until the crocus and the daffodils

                           announce that spring is here,

Assured then we've made it

                  for at least another year.

Our life has its autumn,

                    and indeed it comes to all,

But it need not venture beyond

             the multicolored fall.

If our hearts beat on in rhythm

                                with the whippoorwill that sings,

We have the spring within us

                         as that little bird takes wing.

True, there are not many 

                 who can see the autumn go,

                      they are soon ushered up above

or sent straight down below.

         He must think them rather noble, 

             if he has told them at the gate,

                their work is not yet finished,

                I'LL GIVE THEM STRENGTH TO WAIT.....

Old tree, you are gnarled, hollow and broken.

Water from the stream no longer can nourish you.

Sprouts from your roots support your awkward limbs.

A sapling caresses your trunk,

stateliness surrounds you,

until the winds become too strong.

Poem by my mother- Katherine Elizabeth Graft.

Flowers from the garden of my sister - Lee Ann Siples.