a belated morning sun
inclined from far beyond
the nearby eastern trees
will soon reheat the garden
and the neighbour world
beyond the fence...

the contoured farmland hollows
that surround an ancient cone
still retain the mists of night
and wordlessly announce
the arrival
of another autumn harvest

the coolness and the calm
assures another cloudless day...
after summer weeks
of dry unwatered stress
have browned the unmown grass
and split the dusty ground

by now
400 million bygone autumns
have cycled in the seasons
of an aging sun
whilst year by year
genetic drift
imperceptibly inclined
a gourd towards a pumpkin

now once again
a cycle is complete
and pumkins full of seeds
lie ready
for the gardener to collect

the tendrilled vines
that twined and wrapped
invading any space
unoccupied or not
are disentangled
one by one
and severed from the stems

a mini crop of pumpkins
is made ready
to be dried and winter stored

maybe one
of all the embryos encased
will be retained...
its dormancy reversed...
and nurtured with considerated care
so it will grow
into another slightly different
curcurbit descendant

and thus participate again
together with
an even older gardener
in the seasons ending
of another autumn




nev2015