Fair the Wind

  1. 'Twas mid-October -- mild and fair,
  2. And southern breezes blust'ry blew;
  3. 'Twas welcome warmth, now sometimes rare --
  4. Like summer with an autumn hue.
  5. A hundred-acre grassy field
  6. There in the country, lush and green;
  7. 'Twas recent cut, when cash to yield,
  8. surrounded by both corn and bean.
  9. What soul could fault this comely day?
  10. As times like this here out are few,
  11. And thoughts of winter never weigh
  12. But wind did play with all that flew.
  13. And here a monarch butterfly --
  14. Bright orange against the emerald scene,
  15. Does south, into the wind, go by --
  16. From grass and inch above between.
  17. Though friend to us, to it is foe --
  18. This southern wind as summer knew;
  19. It rested some, with miles to go,
  20. Then in a bit it up and flew.

- G. Kittell
October 2008