This poem was first sent to me by a dear friend, Mary Gormley Frenza. For years, we sent it to each other every autumn. This year it goes to all of you. May the harmony of leaf and flower be your companion today.
APOLOGY TO MY NEIGHBORS IN AUTUMN
In these still days far lovelier than summer
There is no need of talk, no need to hear
Tales of strange places from each latest comer.
Rather avoid all comers, rather fear
The whir of motors chugging up the drive.
Like the assiduous bees who haste to hive
In attic windows, striving now to win
The last gold honey for the last wax bin,
So I for my own harvest must be free.
The humming silence is compelling me
To swing the hinges on each rusty door
That locked away my spirit, and let pour
Inward the harmony of leaf and flower.
I could sit, sun-drenched, on this hummock,
hour by hour,
Sloughing off worldliness, growing as sound
And simple as this pear tree on this ground.
Mildred Whitney Stillman
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