First days of seasons so often seem to miss their mark, promising either something that has already arrived or that may not appear for weeks. They masquerade as transitions when in reality, the transitions exist on a continuum, and that official “first day” merely marks the calendar’s progress. Yes, there is the lengthening or shortening that is most dramatic on an equinox, but things don’t necessarily feel different.
Why, then, do we go to so much trouble to note the hour and minute that one season slips into the next? Perhaps it is simply because we need to measure the days in some way. For quite a few years, I measured them with my students by writing haiku. But this isn’t about the haiku; it’s about the images and music this first day of fall calls to mind for me.
Continue reading “The Shadow Dreams Into Fall”