Autumn Songs

"Autumn Songs"
A Poetry Collection by Christopher Sauer
Featuring the "Animal Shorts" series

For my sister, who I love

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The First Day of Autumn

Well this is the first day of autumn
I saw you walking down the sidewalk
You had books in your hands
I felt like I should ask you but
I was just too shy

A chill fell when I looked into your eyes
They had fallen like leaves onto the pavement
Where once was just green
Suddenly all I could see inside
Was a golden, auburn ring

These are the words I hoped you'd say
I wish you had leaned in close to whisper
"If only it was like this,
Just about every day. I wish,
You'd never have to leave."

My feelings for you are often worn
Like a sweater I put on over t-shirts
I cover up who I am
And I make up a plan for swaying
Your body next to mine

What if I just want to be warm?
And you bring us some quilted blankets
Keep open the door
The outcome is unsure until
The moment we fall asleep

Won't you crawl into my arms?
I promise I'll hold you close and softly
And if we both dream tonight
I'll call you over from my
Lucid backyard fence

There you are again my dear
Has this whole day been just a vision?
Or has your beautiful face
Put my mind and my place out here
Since autumn of last year?

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Crescent Moon

Burning autumn sun
We'll have a bonfire by the patio
Rolling smoke over ginger ale
We hear the weather from our radio

Crimson coated sky
Paintbrush strokes on the atmosphere
Buzzing and ticking in leafy grass
The grasshopper captivates our ears

Parking the pickup
Under the deck; we're awaiting the snow
Pausing at the sound of moaning rafters
We stop to wipe our feet below

Smokestacks billowing
Hissing fireplace at a whispering father
Why don't we hurry ourselves upstairs?
Bedtime lurks, but we never bother

Darkened bedroom views
Beyond the glass, a frosty night
My eyes behold the crescent moon
I wait in vain for lullabies

Robin bird's blue-song
I hear her singing outside my window
Morning after our daily adventures
I save my dream under my pillow

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Illness

Monday rings the morning bell
The day after my illness fell
Upon me like a boulder on a leaf
My dry veins crack and bend beneath

A fire has been kindled in my head
Sweat and tears belittle my barren bed
For a sweet release I'm desperate
Yet every remedy seems counterfeit

So like an artful chemist do I prepare
The finest and sweetest of sultry ales
A tempest on the shores of an industrial city
Tidal waves of honey and succulent tea

I'll divide their streets and polluted mass
Like a scythe splitting blades of grass
Send forth agents to scour my disease
Lay my head to rest; put my mind at ease

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Squirrel, The

Bury, bury, which to bury?
So many nuts, so little time
Hurry, hurry, scratch and scurry
Get your own tree, this one's mine!

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Fall of the Empire
By Christopher Sauer

Clocks hang low
Midnight tolls for no one
The city streets are empty
The monotonous becomes necessity
Mankind is undone

Fury of a past forgotten
Snowballs into hardened oblivion
There are no more transmissions
Our bodies have yet to find remission
Loss; uneasy repose

Cots and sheets set ablaze
Fire in the cold air of a mattress factory
Using quilts to snuff this rabid flame
Destroying all for which we lay claim
Sleep so unsatisfactory

Symbols for syllables
Imagination for hard currency
Enlist the service a self-serving faction
With overflowing ideas but an absence of action
Like water in the Dead Sea

All things slowly fade away
Turned back to their original state
What good now serves the marquee?
Have moving pictures truly molded our identities?
Wandering eyes devote our fate

This is no distant future
The end has already begun to begin
The pain, the loss, the agony
Here it is inside, burgeoning
Destruction looms within

These abandoned city streets
Hollow skyscraper skeletons
The worth of man stands firm, yet empty
The words of wise are yet again buried
Only time we have yet to count

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Quilted Comforter

Still beating, overflow
Still dreaming
Loss of control.I'll have a look in the mirror.
This is (my life)
all I have
(all I know to have)
a name and a face
labels of being
Bought (and ripped off)
a loose-fitting garment
vessel for seeing

Fear and doubting always the mirror.
Longing for my comforter
Still my heart echoed after
These tears hushed the laughter
These lashes bought my slander
This torn (and tattered)
loose-fitting sheet
(quilted comforter)

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A Fall Song (For Children)

The rain clouds up in the sky
The leaves up on the trees
All come tumbling down at once
Like falling on your knees

So let's all come and join the song
That started way back when
A tune to haunt the morning sun
Oh here comes fall again

One-thousand, hundreds of thousands
Needles and seeds on the evergreen
Think of the time we spent inside
Sleeping through all our dreams

Two-thousand, all up around-sand
It's foggy and gray as the pavement
We'll spend our afternoons at your house
And build a fort in your basement

Raking tears at the leafy sidewalks
They gather up piles every day
Pumpkins and candy litter the sentry
Stationed to guard the cornfield maze

Golden sun let the rain pass
Neighbor this land with your smile
Rise up high on a mountain
And stay for awhile

Weather this time with the honest
And lift up high the small ones
By your presence I know
Another season has begun

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The Cats, the Kitties, etc.

Hiding under stiff foundations
Curled in a loving ball
A furry, nestled kitty nation
There's room for one; there's room for all

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VHS

A video home system
Wrapped inside plastic
Like-able gray fuzz
Humming something drastic

Tracking devices
Timely note takers
Rhythmic flashing lights
To watch again later

Clocking speed
Ticking and whirring
Fast-forward; pause
Shifting and blurring

Bunt, crack, fizzle, pop
Grinding our gears
Electric image automation
Spinning static wheels

Miles of videotape
Dizzying analog bind
Unfold a mystery
But be kind, rewind

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The Bonfire

I see the fire stirring, swirling
The embers smoke and die alone
Ceaseless heat release, twirling
Above the maples gray clouds rose

I see the glow of cheerful faces
From a distance, from the road
Around the circle warmth embraces
All our friends from years ago

With outstretched hands and folding arms
We reached for what we could not see
As flame and forest display their charms
And dance to nature's symphony

The night air whirled about our craft
Another fight to keep our place
Around the bonfire where we sat
Until it smoldered in our face

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Last Light

Arrive! Arise! There is a fire in the sky
Where the clouds reach out for the last light
Sentinels dance about her waning coals
Orange and glowing like days of old

The moon peeks above in the shadows
Her face lifting from her purple pillows
Thoughts ignite one by one behind the fold
As the sun lowers his broad shoulders

I stand in a field and lay on the hillside
The grass is wet with auburn highlights
As I bask in the final hours of daytime
The chill I feel; the warmth I delight

Street lamps flicker to a soothing hum
One by one as the stars above
Leading my eyes to the pathway home
Little do they know I'd rather be alone

Deep inside the Earth's golden locks
There I find the feelings I forgot
Though light disappear, I am fain
I pray that he may fall by me again

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Confronting the Conifer

Gonk! A cone just hit my head!
Take those lights down! Time for bed!
It's not even close to Christmas!
Stop that poking! I mean business!

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Timbre

In the forest by the maple tree
A southern voice has called for me
I'm restless for a winter hearth
Following my honesty

I stand still, counter coursed by leaves
A basket dangling in the breeze
Like my calloused winter heart
Over empty melodies

I lift my eyes to the chickadee
Who pulls air from her lungs to sing
Calling the majestic start
Of autumn's grand finale

And as the wind begins to cleave
Through woodland season harmony
Try my best to play the part
In nature's somber symphony

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House in the Valley

I'm not afraid to leave you
If I am a bit too unreal
If my hands are to shy
You can delay for a long time
You're fine being just who you are
In a home far from mine

I may feel raw for a season
The ghost of our former selves
Has been haunting my recent prose
Warming my feet, I'm reminded
The slows of our dancing minds
When we turned on our TV shows

Since last year I thought I knew much worse
(Things we felt but we could never say)
Pain I felt with time I would forget
(Unsaid things begin to take their toll)

You were the heart I thought was
Beating in time right with mine
But you were the rain of leaves and
It's only fall again.

* * *

I'm not afraid, but I miss you
At least I can fix my whole gaze
On the gospel of peace
Here in this house in the valley
The trees lose a lot more this year
They've cried a lot more than me

Bailing the clouds with a back wind
The Lord lifts the sky from the hills
And the wolves from my door
Here is our God, He's the sunrise
He shines through my window this day
In my heart and my mind

From the day I found my love for Him
(What a joyous lot for me to hold)
Thought to share this love with my dear friends
(Painless loss would not be sacrifice)

For this frail heart I must be
Reconciled with my Father
All this in time for winter
It's only fall again.

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Midwinter

Breathing softly deep within her
Arms the sun sit still in winter
Leaves below collapsing season
Calls upon synaptic reason

With every icy exhale new
Breeds frosting of the morning dew
Dark will come earlier this year
But fire leaves us none to fear

Burning softly throughout the night
Lights your face, blanketing your eyes
You nuzzle with me underneath
And touch my face with your long sleeves

My fingers find your hands so cold
The night is young but growing old
We'll slip into the morning's love
When Earth puts on her winter gloves

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The Shepherd

He's looking over on the ridge
For wolves and thistles 'round the ledge
All for one, the Lord may give
Silly lamb, don't leave again

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