Fall is a delicious shiver of cold on my neck
It's chilly ankles and fingertips
Hands retracted into sleeves
Sweatshirts and sweaters
Swaddling me in
Cozy warm
Fall is spangled spiderwebs
Full of dazzling dewdrops
Like diamonds burst from a velvet bag
And I wonder as I walk past
And gasp
How they form
Do the webs pluck the dew from the air
One drop at a time
Like an audience filling in their seats before the show starts?
Or is it all at once
At a magic moment
Each orb summoned from nothing
Appearing in an instant
I want to watch this spectacle
The making of a work of art
But I'm always too late
So I'll just have to enjoy
Watching the sun, caught
Glow in each drop
On each web
Across this field
It still feels like a victory
And I want to award all the spiders
Blue ribbons
For Best In Show.
-Jennifer Sands
9/9/22
Photo from my morning walk, where the fields were dotted with loveliness. Poem written that evening.
