We close out this first day of autumn with a moody song embodying the arrival of the season. Ella Fitzgerald sings of beautiful heartbreak, and a longing to not have an early autumn ~ and we are powerless to stopping it as it’s already here. Hearing the muse while a sliver of oud emanates from my wrist, I indulge in the beauty of the night.
When an early autumn walks the land and chills the breeze
And touches with her hand the summer trees
Perhaps you’ll understand what memories I own
There’s a dance pavilion in the rain all shuttered down
A winding country lane all russet brown
A frosty window pane shows me a town grown lonely…
Accustomed to the dark falls and the treacherous emotional terrain that often accompanies the seasons of lesser light, I feel that this is familiar territory. Whether it’s the unrequited infatuations of my youth or more adult-like failed relationships in my 20’s, fall has traditionally been a time of emotional turmoil. In some ways, the spell of such a time is a reminder that we are all still human, still prone to making messy mistakes in service to our wayward hearts.
That spring of ours that started so April-hearted
Seemed made for just a boy and girl
I never dreamed, did you, any fall could come in view
So early, early…
A candle glows gently before a mound of sumptuous sequin brocade. The light is serene, the colors are soft. Would that such pretty things be a balm on thy heart.
Darling, if you care, please, let me know
I’ll meet you anywhere, I miss you so
Let’s never have to share another early autumn
Instead, it rages quietly. It ravages in silence. It tears down the semblance of an ordered life and wreaks its havoc with nary a ripple of the surface. There, all is pristine and placid. No one wants to know what lurks below.
Darling, if you care, please, let me know
I’ll meet you anywhere, I miss you so
Let’s never have to share another early autumn
Autumn, autumn
