Today, on the first day of Autumn, I’m pleased to bring you a lovely poem that made me feel like maybe the end of Summer isn’t all bad. This is To My Daughter in a Red Coat by poet Anne Stevenson.

Late October. It is afternoon.
My daughter and I walk through the leaf-strewn
Corridors of the park
In the light and the dark
Of the elms’ thin arches.

Around us brown leaves fall and spread.
Small winds stir the minor dead.
Dust powders the air.
Those shrivelled women stare.
At us from their cold benches.

Child, your mittens tug your sleeves.
They lick your drumming feet, the leaves.
You come so fast, so fast.
You violate the past,
My daughter, as your coat dances.