a poem in progress

I posted my first draft of a poem I recently wrote here but I want to spend more time on it, revise it, and submit it for a competition, so it's off the blog for now...

autumn’s melancholy

with the season’s subtle shift
death crawls in
without protest or complaint
to impede its advancement

leaves lose suppleness
drifting to the ground with a sigh of inevitability
decay’s cloying scent taints the breeze
and assaults the senses with a pungent musty sweetness
vibrant colours fade with resignation
the landscape transforms
into a dull dun monochrome
the brittle shifting of the dry grass
becomes the rattling of bones and the whispers of ghosts

life is retreating for hibernation
blanketed by listless and unresponsive iciness
pristinely beautiful but numbing to the bone
a pledge that even the deepest parts of ourselves
are not immune

death
tiptoes on the cooler currents of change
slinks in with the blackened dimness of the longer nights

amidst the pervading chill and shadows
hope wavers
emotions harden
belief becomes shifty and illusive

but

beneath the melancholy exterior
life is regenerating
determined to defy those icy fingers of fatality
intent on thrusting through the shallow surface
and emerging with the pure green fragrance of full colour blooms

missing out

This weather is making it hard for me to enjoy my work. I feel like I'm missing out. My classroom is in the basement with no windows and I miss the sunshine. This morning I was driving to school at 8:00 a.m. The sun was shining and it was 12 degrees and climbing; I saw a runner and I felt cheated. It was perfect running weather and I was on my way to my little box in the basement. Obviously there's so much more to my job than that, and I really do enjoy it (most days anyhow), but all I wanted to do was turn the Jeep around, go back home, change into my running gear, and enjoy the morning while hearing my feet pound the pavement. I think I just miss summer.