First Day of Autumn

First Voice: When is it Autumn?

Second Voice: The first of September, the weather people say.

Third Voice: But on that day, the sun beat down and we hid from his rays. We were glad of cool shade and cold beer.

First Voice: So when is it Autumn?

Second Voice: The twenty-first, the Old Folk say.

Second Voice: But on that day, many leaves will be brown. The mornings dark and the evenings long. By then it will long have been Autumn.

First Voice: So when is it Autumn?

Second Voice: When Christmas products tantalise on supermarket aisles

When T-shirts sulk as you hunt for your Mac

When the late fruit taunts you under a threat of frost

When wasps are many yet their time is short

When the spiders' webs shimmer on dew-soaked carriage lamps

When the delicate, misty mornings are changing to fog

When the street lights hang yellow and blurred in its grasp

When leaves' thoughts turn to dying and the busy hedgehog seeks for one juicy slug

When the foxes slink close to the house as they dare

When Nature cries "Not enough!" but also 'No more!"

Voice: That's when it's Autumn.