October

I felt almost wistful enjoying a supremely lovely fall day Monday, knowing that the cold weather is coming. I stopped to look at our spectacular Wasatch Mountains dusted with snow and framed by the sparkling clear blue sky. I traveled down streets lined with sycamores, maples and locust trees dressed in their richest, mellowest shades of red and gold. I even walked out to smell the roses in my backyard, knowing they won't be there much longer.

That's why I was delighted Monday evening while helping one of my daughters with her homework to rediscover this Robert Frost poem that perfectly expresses how I feel about this time of year in Salt Lake City. Enjoy, poetry lovers.

October

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow's wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
Tomorrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow.
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know.
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away.
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes' sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost--
For the grapes' sake along the wall.

Photo by Getty Images