In The Comfort of Autumn

Old Katherine awakens to an early sun.
Slowly she moves her feet
Toward the open window.
When her eyes watch,
They watch beyond the allowance
Of her fading green pupils
Into that picture of memory
Where the world is kind
And she is young and full of energy.
Yes, her eyes...
Fading green pupils
Fixated on
The beauty of colored Leaves
Falling
Slowly down upon the street
Connects her heart
To the days of running care free along cobblestone streets
Yelling at the sky
With good friends cherished, that have long since returned back to the earth.
Yes…old Katherine with elderberry tea in hand
Sips slowly. It’s aroma blends well with what the morning’s outside
Air has filled her tiny apartment with.
Sitting on a chair by the open window
She comes upon a decision and proclaims out loud
to her lazy cat Chester that…“today is the day I will excite these weary bones.
Today the dust will not settle on me.
Gone is a summer of merciless heat.
I will walk
And if the age of my body permits I shant return for
Quite the while.
Around the corner a fierce winter will come And imprison me
But today…today, I will embrace
The comforts of autumn.”
And with that Katherine showers
And dresses
Grabs her coat
And places upon her head a
Covering that wraps from the
Top of the hair and is tied
Underneath the neck.
After feeding Chester she is ready
And out the door she goes.

Immediately she is almost run over By a boy on a bike.
But the boy is a youthful gentleman and Stops to apologize.
Katherine smiles
Keeping her humor about her “young man it is quite alright
I am old and slow
And I know you youth’s have
Places to go.”
The boy grins and waves
And off, indeed he goes.

Again with the memory of cobblestone
The worn down concrete
Reveals the old ways in patches.
Katherine notices and thinks…“
Men with their loud and fancy cars.
Pa’s horse drawn buggy was always
More appealing.
When the wheels rolled along
The brick, that sound was soothing
And it was real.
It harmonized with the outside world And the conversations we use to have
Never reaching distracting volumes.
Beauty in its simplicity.
And now…well, now I suppose
There’s stereo.”

Her feet take her to the market
And Henry is outside sweeping
The dust.
He is pleasantly surprised to see Katherine up and about the neighborhood
But can’t help but wonder
If he’d left anything out from the
Weekly box of groceries he delivers to her
Every Tuesday.
But surely she would have called and scolded
Instead of walking down.
So it is with a smidge of worry upon his face that he greets old Katherine with a smile
“Well miss Katherine…fine to see you
On this beautiful day.”
Long in years but still very sharp
She notices the look of Henry
And with her fun sense about her
She quickly conjures up a sour scowl
And an unpleasant disposition.
And Henry is no longer
Half…
He is fully worried.
But Katherine cannot keep the face
Of a mad woman very long
Before the cracks of a grin
Completely intrude.
And in her glow she embraces Henry’s arm and
Offers a warm hello
Then, after which her eyes
become fixated on a barrel of apples
Lined along the storefront.
Noticing, Henry speaks.
“Those are fresh miss Katherine…
My boy brought them in from down state just the other day.”
And while Katherine ruffled through
Her purse looking for change
Henry spots the perfect specimen
And shines it so that the sun
highlights its autumn color.
“For you Miss Katherine…”His outstretched hands invite her
To take the gift.
“No doubt, I’ll bet, the sweetest of the bunch for the sweetest of the bunch…
No charge.”
her pale wrinkled skin turns bright red around the cheeks
as Henry’s charm is pleasent to the heart
but very much un-expected.
Miss Katherine takes the apple
And issues a thank you.
“No doubt Henry…if I were only 20 Years younger.”
And with that remark she waves A goodbye to the sweeping store owner.

Pop pop...
was the name given to Grandfather Reginald By her when she was just a little girl.
And along the way Pop pop had
Begun to hold her hand in memory
Just like way back when
He use to take her on long walks
On the farm during the setting of the sun.
The apple that tasted so good and sweet
Helps her remember that Pop pop use to love to pick apples
For Grandma’s special pies.
He use to say…“Kathy ya’ gotta’ be extra
Particular when you pickin’ dem apples Fer pie.
If it aint look just right Ya’ grandma’ just ain’t gonna’
Use it.
She takes as much pride an’ joy in makin’ dem things
As we’s do eatin’ em’.
Yessem’, she’d justa’ bout
Scrap a whole barrel din make one bad pie.
I’s know it…Cause I’d seen her to do it.”

“First frost…”

First frost was when Pop pop thought apple picking to be at its best.
Yes sir…before the first frost is when dey the sweetest.
When the Juice wets your whistle
And you can’t hardly keep it from runnin' All down yo’ chin after
Ev’ry bite.”
As the apple from Henry
Is munched down
Katherine embarrassingly wipes
The little juice from her chin
With her handkerchief
Hoping that know one noticed
Her momentary lapseIn tidiness.
“First frost indeed”
She smiles.

Tiredness becomes a
Burden only rest could mend.
So…
Simple solution in the way of
A bench in the park
Marks her next steps.
In the moments of rest
The birds sing beautifully.
With her eyes closed she
Takes it all in.
The rustling leaves…
The laughing children…
“A symphony”
She whispers eyes still closed.
Wondering on a title for Such beautifully simplistic harmony
It comes…
“I think I will call it In the Comfort of Autumn.”

One, perhaps two hours later
and a re-energized Katherine should like to continue on
“Let me walk through
Downtown.
I would like to gaze for A bit at the
Store windows.”
She thought to herself.
So she did…
There was the store
That fashioned antiques And when she noticed A pop gun,
The kind that was
Air compressed with
A string attached to the bullet,
Christmas came to mind,
in particular the year her Little brother Willie
Received his toy rifle.
How she hated that thing
For Willie,
Never-minding how much she begged & cried,
use to take her Dolls and line them Up and shoot at them.
Out of meanness
Out of spite
Out of simply suffering
From the disease
Known asBoyhood.
With the thought of Willie
Tears start to form,
not for the destruction of childish dolls
but For Willie,
who not so long after receiving that toy rifle
traded it in
For the real thing And lost his life
in the deserts of Africa
In the spring of ’42,
Not yet cured from his disease.

The Victrola nestled neatly in the corner of the window
Is a memory that eases the sad tears a bit.
It’s a memory that brings laughter.
Laughter in the fondness of thought of late nights
At the all girls college
After Sister Clara made her rounds
And the girls did their best to keep from
Snickering underneath the blankets
As the light shined upon their beds.
Soon they’d be off to
Meet sailors
And back To recap
each adventure
Over Sinatra or Crosby.

About SAILORS…

There was one that
Anchored Katherine’s heart
So much so that she
Was thinking
And planning
And waiting patiently
For him to return home
But war is unkind
And for some…
Extremely.
She never held those dear
Ideas for anyone in all the
Years since.
Chosen instead to make him
Fulfill his promise
When she happens on him again.

"Time to be on my way home."

Downtown is beginning to buzz
The night is slowly turning over to the Young.
"There is nothing further that I need to see…
These stores are too expensive
For my taste anyhow.”
And with that Katherine soon
Finds herself outside the door
Of her tiny apartment.
The rattling of her keys
Awakens Chester
And hungry he stands by the door
For Katherine.
Annoyed by his bickered meowing
Katherine picks him up And gives him a cold stare.
“Now, now Chester…Mama must go out every once and a while.
”But she knew Chester couldn’t care Less.
So old Katherine fed the Cat
And changed her clothes,
Putting on her night dress.
A pot of water was brewed
For the night cap of elderberry tea.
As Katherine sits by the chair next to the window
She reflects upon the day…
Moving images flickering off the bright moon.
“It’s been a good day…It truly has.”
After the tea she lay in her bed
And the soothing breeze from the morning that inspired her day
has come back for the night.
And old Katherine rest peacefully…
In the comfort of autumn.