It's surprisingly difficult to find a good autumn poem...

Autumn

by Grace Paley

1

What is sometimes called a

tongue of flame

or an arm extended burning

is only the long

red and orange branch of

a green maple

in early September reaching

into the greenest field

out of the green woods at the

edge of which the birch trees

appear a little tattered tired

of sustaining delicacy

all through the hot summer re-

minding everyone (in

our family) of a Russian

song a story

by Chekhov or my father

2

What is sometimes called a

tongue of flame

or an arm extended burning

is only the long

red and orange branch of

a green maple

in early September reaching

into the greenest field

out of the green woods at the

edge of which the birch trees

appear a little tattered tired

of sustaining delicacy

all through the hot summer re-

minding everyone (in

our family) of a Russian

song a story by

Chekhov or my father on

his own lawn standing

beside his own wood in

the United States of

America saying (in Russian)

this birch is a lovely

tree but among the others

somehow superficial

Grace Paley, “Autumn” from Long Walks and Intimate Talks by Grace Paley and Vera B. Williams. Copyright © 1991 by Grace Paley. Reprinted with the permission of The Feminist Press at the City University of New York, www.feministpress.org.

Source: Begin Again: The Collected Poems of Grace Paley (1999)