October's Bright Blue Weather -- A Poem

Each year when October arrives I am reminded of this poem, which I committed to memory in grade school.

Today – the first day of October – does not conform to the sentiments expressed here (rain and possible storms are predicted), but I know the rain will soon give way to the beautiful weather and the feelings generated by this poem.

October’s Bright Blue Weather

by Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885)

O suns and skies and clouds of June,

And flowers of June together,

Ye cannot rival for one hour

October’s bright blue weather.

When loud the bumblebee makes haste,

Belated, thriftless vagrant,

And Golden-Rod is dying fast,

And lanes with grapes are fragrant;

When Gentians roll their fringes tight

To save them for the morning,

And chestnuts fall from satin burrs

Without a sound of warning;

When on the ground red apples lie

In piles like jewels shining,

And redder still on old stone walls

Are leaves of woodbine twining;

When all the lovely wayside things

Their white-winged seeds are sowing,

And in the fields, still green and fair,

Late aftermaths are growing;

When springs run low, and on the brooks,

In idle golden freighting,

bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush

Of woods, for winter waiting;

When comrades seek sweet country haunts,

By two and two together,

And count like misers , hour by hour,

October’s bright blue weather.

O suns and skies and flowers of June,

Count all your boasts together,

Love loveth best of all the year

October’s bright blue weather.

Helen Hunt Jackson was an American poet and novelist. She was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, where her father was a professor in Amherst College, but she spent much of her life in  California.

Hope your October will be lovely!