Something Told The Wild Geese

mybackyard
Originally uploaded by Randuwa

This is the view from the door of my sunroom looking into my backyard. I took it on Thanksgiving Day this year. Now the leaves are all gone and tonight the earlier sleet has been replaced by a steady nearly freezing rain. Makes this photo, with it's ominous sky, seem downright "cozy."

Here's a poem from my childhood; a poem that my school's children will be singing in concert this coming Monday evening (tomorrow).

SOMETHING TOLD THE WILD GEESE

Something told the wild geese
It was time to go.
Though the fields lay golden
Something whispered,—“Snow.”

Leaves were green and stirring,
Berries, luster-glossed,
But beneath warm feathers
Something cautioned,—“Frost.”

All the sagging orchards
steamed with amber spice,
But each wild brest stiffened
At remembered ice.

Something told the wild geese
It was time to fly,—
Summer sun was on their wings,
Winter in their cry.

~ Rachel Field, 1894 - 1942