September Poem

Did you have to memorize poetry in school?  We did.  In 6th grade we had to memorize the poem, September by Helen Hunt Jackson.  And recite it in front of the class.  I still remember and love that poem.  The days are growing shorter here in western PA, the air is a little brisker, and the pumpkins on our vines are turning a bright orange as the vines are dying.  And yesterday this poem came to mind.

SEPTEMBER
by: Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885)

HE golden-rod is yellow;

The corn is turning brown;

The trees in apple orchards

With fruit are bending down.

 

The gentian's bluest fringes

Are curling in the sun;

In dusty pods the milkweed

Its hidden silk has spun.

 

The sedges flaunt their harvest,

In every meadow nook;

And asters by the brook-side

Make asters in the brook.

 

From dewy lanes at morning

The grapes' sweet odors rise;

At noon the roads all flutter

With yellow butterflies.

 

By all these lovely tokens

September days are here,

With summer's best of weather,

And autumn's best of cheer.

 

But none of all this beauty

Which floods the earth and air

Is unto me the secret

Which makes September fair.

 

'T is a thing which I remember;

To name it thrills me yet:

One day of one September

I never can forget.

"September" is reprinted from Poems. Helen Jackson. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1892.

Have a great September day, and take the time to look at all of the autumn signs around you.