Last week while out tramping about in the woods on an unseasonably gentle day, I came upon this sight. You’ve heard, I’m sure, of the first robin of spring? Well, this would be the first fallen leaf of autumn, and a more different harbinger it could hardly be. This week the teachers come back to our school to prepare, and then a week later the students return, including my housemates, our student priests. That brings an excitement, even a newness, all its own, and many will welcome it all.
But I invite you now, pause, observe, reflect, enjoy. Gather your peaches while ye may, both literally and metaphorically. Winter is coming, so don’t rush. Blessed August to you all.
Monsignor Smith
The Summer lapsed away —
Too imperceptible at last
To seem like Perfidy —
A Quietness distilled
As Twilight long begun,
Or Nature spending with herself
Sequestered Afternoon —
The Dusk drew earlier in —
The Morning foreign shone —
A courteous, yet harrowing Grace,
As Guest, that would be gone —
And thus, without a Wing
Or service of a Keel
Our Summer made her light escape
Into the Beautiful.
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (1830–1886)
