AUTUMN TEASER

BY TERRY LILLEY

A sweet cool breeze brushed across my skin today as an
usherance,
welcome,
teaser to Autumn
My favorite season
When I feel dormant pieces of my core,
dampened with the summer humidity of Virginia,
come back to life
Dogwood leaves are already crisp
with the lack of rain experienced during August
While the Joe Pye - Eutrochium leans over
heavily topped with cotton candy clusters
Joined by other flora community members
To accompany this seasonal era of harvest

Goldenrod - Solidago
Ironweed - Vernonia
Wingstem - Verbasina
With hues of pink, purple, ochre and gold
Adaptable to a multitude of ever changing and unpredictable soil and water conditions
Because summer can exit in a drought
leaving parched cracks in the ground
or a hurricane occurrence swelling into storm surge
The butterfly weed - Asclepius tuberosa having already bloomed a tangerine dream
offers itself to the monarch caterpillar to munch away on
in preparation for mystery and metamorphosis
A reminder of complete surrender to the unknown