Another August is ending.
One more summer is dying,
Indifferent to what we planned to do
But again, didn’t.
Only death can make us feel the passing of time
More acutely than the changing of seasons.
In the fall, changing leaves teach us how to grow old.
In the winter, our loved ones help us ward off the cold.
In the spring, hope blooms again and the spirit expands.
In the summer, our hearts long for exotic, faraway lands.
There was some adventure in this summer,
And love, hope, growth, happiness;
But the eternal, perfect summer;
The glorious, golden, sun-splashed summer
That has always danced in the depths of my soul;
The collection of idealized images stored in my mind
Again eluded me.
Maybe it always will.
Where do we collect these fantasies?
From post cards? Novels? Movies?
Or perhaps from some perfect moment,
Some blessed nanosecond of pristine peace
During vacations in the distant past;
Moments we were unable to extend
After we returned home
And changed in ways that living required.
And it dawns on me
That we see many things
the way we see the seasons.
So much never matches our fantasies
And so much is lost in their pursuit.
Maybe this longing has nothing to do with the summer or fall
But only the aching, insatiable emptiness that governs us all.
There is never enough.
Only hours after a meal, we are hungry again.
We find a twenty on the ground
And after a moment of elation,
Start searching for more.
It is this way with everything.
So how can we ever find lasting peace?
Appreciation seems to be the only way.
So as the sun sets for the last time
Over this waning summer
And a cool breeze cuts through the warmth
As if to warn me of colder days ahead,
This time . . . this time,
I will close my eyes,
Breathe deeper than last year,
Savor the final remnants of sage from the hills
And think to myself,
“Yes . . . this was a good summer.
A good summer.”
Then I'll peacefully let this spent summer die
And resolve to do later all that I meant to try.
The seasons don't mean us any harm, after all.
So with a joyous heart, I will welcome the fall.
Author notes
Written August 29th, 2005
In a list
A contest entry
- Autumn Poetry Contest by FloridaGatorQueen.
525 points, ended September 30, 39 entries
Gold trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
What did you think
Comments
1 - 35 of 35
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This is very beautifully written. I like the way you explain each season in your own way. I especially like the way you explain autumn at the end. I enjoyed the read!!! Thank you for entering my contest.
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Outstanding
I love how you related the changes in the season to your life and your family and such a wonderful comparison. Yes we never really get to explore all we want to do in this life year after year, but to be thankful for what we have and what we were able to do is a blessing! thanks for entering and good luck! -
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Thanks! You're so right. Gratitude is probably the biggest key to happiness, and so hard to sustain consistently because we lose so much. Life is like licking honey off a thorn. I just lost my mother-in-law two months ago so I'm having a lot of trouble staying positive about life seeing my wife in such despair. But the seasons are very symbolic and we can learn a lot from them about life's cycles and changes. Like autumn leaves, so much falls away over time, but spring always comes again. The dismal and gray frozen lake explodes with happy tourists and color again six months later. We just have to keep reminding ourselves that the warmth and light will come back. The difference is the seasons are automatic but are emotions are not. We have to allow the internal spring and summer come back, or choose to stay in perpetual winter because of grief. That's the part that requires the spirit of a peaceful warrior.
Thanks again,
Mark
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Oh My Gosh!!....this is just beautiful...I love it!..
...thank you for sending it to me...
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GOSH!!!
This was such a beautiful write....leaves the reader speechless for some seconds!
I liked the fact that you wrote positively about the beginning of fall
This is what we call optimism 
The descriptions were very lovely and so was the vivid imagery....great job!
Good luck in the contest 
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brillant~
Oh this is just exquisite I love this one am bookmarking it
I just posted one called August Epilouge about the chaning season but mine was no where in the leauge with this one sweetie
Do come see me...best of luck in the contest this is a winner in my book
Hugs
Susan~~~
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this is a wonderful write. i like that brings so much to the reader to question and think about, as well as putting your own thoughts and emotion in it. i like the optimism in the write, as well as the way it was written - some of the shorter stanzas rhyming, the longer ones not. this has a great flow to it. a piece that fits so perfectly within the contest idea - excellent job. keep up the good work and best of luck in the contest <3
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Brilliant
Mark, I fell in Love with this poem since I read it when it was featured last time..and i read it couple times..It is fantastic write full of optimism and courage to face the upcoming future , fall, winter, spring or summer..
I personally love all seasons..we are lucky we live in areas where we do experience them all so we don't get bored from life..other places have only 2seasons probably or shorter seasons then what it supposed to be ..and to me that will be kind of boring to have long winters or summers..because by now I do feel we ready to welcome the fall..it is actually beautiful season as they call it second spring..
I must stop here..I really enjoy your work all the time..and this one was no exception
AJ -
Thanks, Jen. As I mentioned, I wrote this yesterday kind of off the cuff, then looked for a contest it might fit in and wham-o, your contest description was exactly what I was going for when I wrote it. (Insert Twilight Zone music here. lol). I'm glad you enjoyed it. It was fun to write and addressed something that has always been a problem with me, and I think is with most people - never allowing myself to be satisfied for a minute. It's even encouraged in America by the "motivational speakers" et al - - who all say that contentment and satisfaction means one isn't growing or moving forward anymore. But when do we rest, close our eyes and think "Life is good"? I think a little contentment is a good thing. lol
Take care,
Mark xoxo
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awesome!
what a great write...comparing the changing seasons to our changing lives. you really hit it on the head with "only death can make us feel the passing of time more acutely than the changing of the seasons." very throught provoking. loved it. -
this piece blew my mind!! summer ..always a huge let down ..mostly when we get older. i did do all i wnted plus some this year..but it was my hear i was following not the sun.. i thik that was part of your point!! awesome job .. i bow to you ..namaste
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Ahh, YES. Quite well said, I must agree with those above. Your philosophies on time and human perception were absolutely fantastic. And also, the "stanza" begining with, "Where do we collect these fantasies?..." was just awe-envoking.
Utterly impressed, I am. Kudos & thanks for this profound entry.
xoxo jen -
Wow this was perfect! You described everything perfectly, all the seasons and the emotions behind them and the flow is perfect. You penned a terrific poem , great job keep it up!
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Right On !
Markee
If there was anything to woo my heart away..this is it!
I have been listening to this song "Wake me up when september ends", coz I had a worst phase of my life- this summer.
And now your Fantabulous poem...it inspires to move on with the life.
Ye with the hope.."Weather...will change my life again"...i wish you all the very best with your Fall and life as a whole.
An excellent poem..Mr.So Damn Right( Why always you? )
Love Mary Jane aka Mayank -
A bit long
I found this a little long, and would have preferred it to be free verse without any rhymes. Clearly you had a lot to say. I would like to read it again, if you decided to edit it down. -
Wooww, This piece just lifted my spirit. It is funny to know how the summer is dying from a person who was born in late August ( me). This is such a deep and beautiful piece. I find a lot of wisdoms and truth to it as well. With everything that was said, you have to see things in a positive eyes. Let think, in the heart of any man lies a little bit of greed. Maybe I use the wrong term, but it is so true. Because we always want more, the world has become more colorful than ever. I guess if I am right, one can say, we were born to never be satisfied. You have a marvelous piece of work and some powerful lines as well. Splendid piece
In the fall, changing leaves teach us how to grow old.
There is never enough.
Only hours after a meal,
We are hungry again.
I wish I had thought of them
You have a bless day and thank you for sharing it as well
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Great poem. i love fall its my favorite season!!
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this is very nice, i particularly like this verse:
'Indifferent to what we planned to do
But again, didn’t' just because i always set out in the summer to have the time of my life, not let anything get in my way of having fun, i spent the summer in england visiting family (i live in canada) and even though i should be happy i often find myself sitting on my on, doing nothing and feeling bad, another line that i can relate to is this:
'So much never matches our fantasies' just because it is true
well done
~~~Shawna~~~
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Hi Mark,
Well I do not want to cut and paste any of your lines, coz then I would have to paste the whole poem lol!!! This is a brilliant piece welcoming the autumn, but I just dread what will follow after that, but then we'll have the holiday season to make our spirits warm. I love the way this poem opens, yes, times must go on whether we like it or not, the world will go on, no matter what we feel or what we are planning. There's another trophy waiting!!!
Love and light
Lencio -
Maybe this longing has nothing to do with the summer at all
But only the aching, insatiable emptiness that governs us all.
I think those words are the crux of what you wrote. You notice the things that matter. I don't know about where you are but here in North Carolina I am so deleriously happy to see the fall. Not only for the grand colors the leaves will turn but mainly because it means an end to a very oppressive heat and humidity. Oh...and...NFL season begins.
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Masterpiece
This is beautiful Uncle Mark, this is one of my many favorites from you which is unusual, I don't usually like or enjoy nature poems (Insane! I know
) but you have truly written this beautifully, I enjoyed every meaning and word you expressed... it just kept getting better by each line, I was kind of sad to see the end ... beautifully done Uncle Mark, no doubt a Masterpiece 
MUAH! 
Love You!!!!!!!! Sara
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While reading this, I was impressed at the overall word usage and the great care with which you pieced this together. You analyzed society and the way it interprets the seasons in relation to itself, as well as took a look at yourself as well. Whether or not we like it, as much as some people (mainly, us poets
) try to separate themselves from the mainstream, there are still basic things that we all have in common with this world we live in. I, personally, welcome coming fall and winter months, but I imagine many others do not. All-in-all, this was an impressive write, clearly showing your talent in free-verse, and not just rhyme.
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This poem is awesome!!!! I loved the feeling I got when reading it, so up liftng this poem is. It could take your day from being down and take that way so you may Appreciate what has happened to you in the past. Those are the memories you want to hold on to. And I too will welcome the fall, because summer will be back again next year for more plans. Again Great write, keep up the good writing!!!
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Great!
Such a deep thought out piece, me I am starting to count seasons instead of years, 54 summers, etc. I am always melancholy with the coming of fall, of course mostly because I live in frickin MN and we will soon be freezing for the next 5 months! Or maybe all of us are a little melancholy at the ending of summer. I don't regret not doing something, since I do not make plans much, mostly live in the moment, took years for me to learn how. This was so good, gets one thinking and contemplating, I actually got so lost in thought, I forgot my computer! I came back to find I'd left this poem for almost an hour! So it MUST be good! Your talent never ceases to amaze! -
excellent
enjoyed reading it, congratz! very well penned. -
wow this si really good such an interesting way to look at things and so inspiring i loved this you did a great job
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Such a point of view. Loved it
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'...So as the sun sets for the last time
Over this waning summer
And a cool breeze cuts through the warmth
As if to warn me of colder days ahead,
This time . . . this time,
I will close my eyes,
Breathe deeper than last year,
Savor the final remnants of sage from the hills
And think to myself,
“Yes . . . this was a good summer.
A good summer.”
Then I'll peacefully let this spent, old summer die
And resolve to do later all that I meant to try.
The seasons never mean any harm, after all.
So with a joyous heart, I will welcome the fall.'
BRAVO!!! ENCORE!!! SUSTAINED STANDING OVATION!!! HOMAGE...
Edited on Aug 29, 9:31 p.m. because ''. -
Wow....the colors this poem is in, the picture....omg, it all flows so well! This is a great piece! I love it!
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Enjoyed this description of the end of summer alot. Very good images come to my mind as i read the lines, I love summer, but like fall too. another part of the life cycle, no better or worse than the other three.
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"There is never enough"..that's the one line I love about relating this to summer, because there is never enough time for summer.
"There was some adventure in this summer,
And love, hope, growth, happiness;
But the eternal, perfect summer;
The glorious, golden, sun-bleached summer
That has always danced in the depths of my soul;
The collection of idealized images stored in my mind
Again eluded me.
Maybe it always will. "
I always expect so much from summer, and it does catch make me happy, but never completely as much as I wish.
Good luck in the contest. -
I love the fall and always welcome it
I loved what you did with this
In the fall, changing leaves teach us how to grow old.
In the winter, we hold loved ones to ward off the cold.
In the spring, love blooms and again the spirit expands.
In the summer, our hearts long for exotic, faraway lands,
this was a great write
Blessings
tears -
those leaves are overwhelming and I'm ready for fall.
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Wow, to be honest, when I first started to read your poem, I was a little saddend, since I love the fall! But I continued on, neverless, and discovered I loved the way you compared seasons to life and behavior! And you topped it wit hthe end...a lesson learned! You taught me one as well, finishing to read something to the end before deciding if I like it or not! And yes, I liked it very much so! Keep it up! Continue your observation, and continue to reflect! Great piece of poetry!
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Interesting
What a thing to do, celebrate the coming of fall, rather than to mourn the passing of summer, reminiscing what's past is wonderful of course, but the next summer offers promise to do what wasn't done. I enjoyed this!
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