October

The crickets lament their goodnight cry loud into the crisp October air. Midnight strikes on the clock with urgency; the cusp of fall is upon us. The trees slowly become less and less resistant to the nudges of winds eager to detach them from their green counterparts. In short time the traditions of nature will have their way. These greens will transform into the orange, red and yellow colors of autumn; sweeping and swirling in gusts that pull them away from their treetop homes to line the streets for the next three months. There is a certain iridescent flicker of the soul as the leaves change that seems to happen in the blink of an eye but we knew it would come all along. The leaves change and us with them. The crisp biting air fills every nook of our lungs as we move onward into the unknown. The days get shorter and shadows grow longer, filling us with mystery of what might lurk beyond these shadowy caverns. This restless unknown vibrates down from the trembling families of trees who seem to be telling us what is to come of their fate and ours as well. Summer has come and passed in a heartbeat and in this transition the beat begins to change.  Crowds that can no longer linger outdoors basking in the sun are drawn to local haunts and indoors to the comfort of their own homes, eager to escape the jagged shadows that follow passersby with a mind of their own. This is October.

-          Richard McBane