*NEW POEM* On the Inevitability of Autumn

Gone Back to School

by Judith Cullen

© 2019

As if there were books involved,

pencils and pens, sharp and new,

backpacks crisp from purchase.

Though decades have passed since

our feet trod the waxy floors,

the reality of autumn is here, and

we have all gone back to school.

The carefree mists of summer

have all evaporated in entire.

No more pretext of long days,

no more buoyant assumptions

as the world seems endlessly

in bloom and perpetual growing.

We have all gone back to school.

The evidence is all too apparent

as the leaves turn and air cools;

time to toughen up and focus,

time to get serious about things.

Allowances for fooling and folly

somehow have faded from view.

We have all gone back to school.

The kids went back weeks ago,

trading hot grass for punctilious

bells and buzzers signaling cycles.

Transitions through lingering warmth.

We held out to the last second,

before succumbing to the ultimatum.

We are all now back to school.

The dewed grass not yet frosted,

still we tightly button up our coats,

sober up, diligent and on target.

Summer abandoning our spirits for good,

there is no choice but to bravely step

grasp the decay, the separation, accepting

that nature renders few viable options.

The school of adult responsibility

triumphs once again,

 . . .  and we are back in it.

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