tree branches....

This morning felt like the first real day of autumn. Green colors are now only backdrops, found among grass on the ground, and in the columns of evergreens. All else is turning to yellows, oranges, reds and browns. The leaves on the ground are the litter of fall. The temps were in the low 40s, and by the time we finished our walk, there was enough sunlight so that one could see the tall branches of trees where leaves have already fallen away.

Rilke wrote about such a day:

Autumn Day

Lord: it is time. The huge summer has gone by.
Now overlap the sundials with your shadows,
and on the meadows let the wind go free.

Command the fruits to swell on tree and vine;
grant them a few more warm transparent days,
urge them on to fulfillment then, and press
the final sweetness into the heavy wine.

Whoever has no house now, will never have one.
Whoever is alone will stay alone,
will sit, read, write long letters through the
evening,
and wander the boulevards, up and down,
restlessly, while the dry leaves are blowing.

Translated by Stephen Mitchell,
"The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke" (Random House)