Fall Rant: "Oh Autumn Shadow"

Oh Autumn Shadow...


You put your shade on me...

And rob me of my birthright joys,

And the satisfactions of my sixty-some passages...


You rain your shade round me

And steal my small circumference of sunshine...

Focusing my mind on failures, could-have beens,

And pleas for attention, remembrance, and other pathetic

Whatnots...


At this "later life transitions" stage

I have no patience or time

For those who find in me

Lack of character or social grace

(Or deficiencies in "rhyme").


Critic:

Tend to your own affairs...

To your own illusions...

To your own joy-robbing, mirthless

Critiques...


I throw off your autumnal shade,

For I am a man of sunshine made.



To those who spend their lives

Blowing kisses to their own chosen butts,

I can only say:


I have joyfilled songs to play...

And... they start today!