Autumn is a non-step thrill for me. As I commute to school or wander on the weekends, there are so many moments that stop me in my tracks. Mornings are often drenched in fog and mist. The leaf colors are spectruming from bright to muted, the light slants golden, and shadows paint pictures on every surface. That doesn’t even touch on the crunch of fallen leaves, the scent of wood smoke in the air, the taste of sweetly spiced cider, etc. etc. It’s an ongoing sensory delight!

I just finished listening to “The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion” (for the second time while awaiting the newest installment) and they are laced with literary references and recitations of poetry and prose. I love them. In one of the more recent volumes, a character quoted Wordsworth, which sent me off in search of the full poem “Resolution and Independence”. To be honest, I’ve been so star-struck by this stanza that I haven’t yet taken the time to absorb the whole of the rather-lengthy poem.

All things that love the sun are out of doors;
The sky rejoices in the morning’s birth;
The grass is bright with rain-drops;—on the moors
The hare is running races in her mirth;
And with her feet she from the plashy earth
Raises a mist, that, glittering in the sun,
Runs with her all the way, wherever she doth run.

Wordsworth wove a web of words and captured how I feel so often in autumn–filled with the wonder of a moment of ephemeral beauty. I can see that glittering mist beneath the feet of the racing hare is if I were there. I’ve read it countless times now, each time is a pure “rejoicing”. Nothing moves me more to reverence than nature’s early morning gifts. This stanza is like something precious captured in amber.

This week’s Poetry Friday is hosted by Carol at her blog, The Apples in My Orchard.