ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

LATE AUTUMN LEAVES

Jeff Thorpe (c) 28 April 2016

On 28th May we saw our first Autumn leaves,
extremely late in season but, at last the colour's changing,
who knows what the climate Gods have up their sleeves,
wonder what plans for Winter they're arranging.

The Weather Bureau says La Nina's here and Winter will be wet,
must be true because I saw it on TV,
but, their track record's patchy, I wouldn't take a bet,
preferring to conserve cash and wait and see.

Farmers are punting and planting winter crops
hoping the prediction does come true,
poor souls have had drought so long they cannot afford flops,
let's hope by August they'll all shout woo hoo.

At the beach little's changed, the water is still warm,
this holiday's been most uncharacteristic,
weather far from what we'd consider uniform,
our good fortune cast with twenty-sixteen climate statistic.

At least we've seen changing leaves yet, nowhere near falling,
some consolation for an Autumn non event,
it may be some time before Jack Frost comes a calling,
still, we'll settle for some rain that's heaven sent.

Rain would indeed be a welcome sight, Jeff!

Autumn is very late Jeff. My apple tree still hasn't turned and it is a few days off from winter. El Nino proved devastating here - hopefully La Nina will make up for it. It's raining here - a little, and it is finally green (and very cold).

Heather

It took a drive into northern NSW to see the Autumn leaves. A little village named Chillingham not far from Murwillambah. Several trees there with leaves just starting to go yellow.

Still glorious sunny days on the Gold Coast although getting a little cooler for early morning beach walks

Jeff

G'day Jeff,

Testing 123....its 92 here in Northern California and the trees are full of pollen.....Drought here is still in effect. Grass is browned off and grass fires are popping up. I think I need to do some laps of the pool.

Jeff I liked it, but I figured there should be more text that casts more imagery. But that is just me...

PHILIP.

Hi Philip
Thanks for your interest. I take your point about imagery however, this poem was written quickly in reply to a friend wondering when rain would fall, mentioning dry grass in her garden just as you are experiencing. Looks like your Summer will be a duplicate of what we had here.

Regards, Jeff

G'day Jeff,

Yeah its looking like another real hot summer here. I hope it doesn't get too hot...its no fun to write in extreme weather conditions.

PHILIP.

The fickle hand of weather Jeff.