Tonight I’ve to read a poem by one of my favorite poets, Rainer Maria Rilke.
I choose “Day in Autumn” as translated by Mary Kinzie and presented at the Poetry Foundation website [ http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=181335%5D.
Reading the first two verses:
Already at this very early time in September, the temperature in the Northeast is too cool to take advantage of the swimming pool. The water ( absent a heater) is just a bit too cold.
Unmistakably, Autumn is in the air and this Rilke poem captures for me the bitter-sweet quality of the moment: the longer shadows at dusk, and the earlier loss of light. Yet, there is a lover’s longing in the air of both great expectation and desire to prolong the heat and light that we cherish.
We long for just a little more light ( oh, that it might linger) and the taste of those “final fruits” signifying this Summer’s gifts of playfulness.
Autumn is about the return to school and, for most businesses, is a time for buckling down to the work of the last quarter. It is a time for organizing, planning and preparing. The remembrance of Summer feeds our hopefulness as we await the coming colder, darker months.
So, as we look ahead to the grey-tone months to come, let us savor the ” last few drops of sweetness through the wine.”
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