We had a wonderful taste of the autumn yet to come here in Austin, Texas. It began with a lovely, cool and drenching rain. We have been blessed with more rain than normal this year. When one comes in, however, after days of scorching heat, it feels like such a gift. This one brought cooling temperatures for a couple of days, a damp coolness that makes you want to lie in bed with the window open feeling the cool breeze and lingering just a bit, relaxing longer than usual. You know it won’t last for long so you have to just stop and be with it. Revel in it! For us to go from the near 100’s dipping down into the 60’s for the high of the day was such a treat! Later today, we will be back up in the 90’s, the coolness just a memory and yet a taste for what is coming.
Lying in the cool, green grass, I feel it thick beneath me.
I gaze at the clouds in the sky and my mind wanders,
drifting out to times remembered and times yet to come.
I feel close to the Earth, immanently connected and
embraced by the unknown universe above.
I have sought to learn the secrets of both
and the more I think I know
the more I realize how much there is yet to learn.
They keep their secrets guarded from inquisitive ones
giving a bit at a time, just enough to tempt
a hungry mind to search for more.
I remember when I used to take a nice thick blade of grass
between my two thumbs and raise it to my lips
squealing a sound out into the wind.
I try it now and there it is, that old familiar sound still there, even now.
I see the geese flying overhead
the cool air of autumn blew in on the wind today.
They are honking their way south.
As I think about this time of calm and stillness,
summer’s end and just now feeling the change
moving toward winter, but first a time to watch
all the colors change from green to yellows and browns.
Trees know that it is time to rest and close down.
A time to prepare for the inward journey of the dark.
I think I’ll lie here in the grass for a while longer
taking in the autumn day and feeling the Earth
rich and warm beneath me while my mind wanders
with pleasant thoughts that drift
and spiral with no purpose but … to just be.
Deanne Quarrie. D. Min. is a Priestess of The Goddess, and author of five books. She is the founder of the Apple Branch and Beyond the Ninth Wave where she teaches courses in Druidism, Celtic Shamanism, and Goddess Spirituality and mentors those who wish to serve others in their communities. She is also an Adjunct Professor at Ocean Seminary College and is the founder of Global Goddess, a worldwide organization open to all women who honor some form of the divine feminine.
feminismandreligion.com 
This makes me want to go outside and lay in the grass, appreciating the stars! Something I used to do more often. Thank you for reviving that feeling of one-ness Deanne
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There is something about those liminal moments when change is in the air, that just stops me – it causes me to take a pause in life to experience that feeling of calm – combined with anticipation and allow it to roll over me!
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Your poem transported me back to the days when I was a girl in St.Louis. I remember soft grass and rain and daydreaming. Autumn has always been my favorite season.
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Delightful where you begin the poem and where you end — to “just be,” really a huge thing to achieve! People wait for summer, I wait for autumn, a season priceless.
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Thanks, Deanne, for your poem. It made me breathe deep, touching the peace you describe.
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Thank you, Deanne.That was really inspiring. Autumn is one of my favorite seasons as well. And I too feel this deep connection with liminal days.
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