OCTOBER
Now that it’s October,
And for sure our summer’s over,
I dig up my window boxes,
Pillage petals, roots and stalks ‘n,
Fling the foliage on the ground;
Dead plants lying all around.

Replace them with some flowering bulbs;
With thoughts of springtime I indulge.
I tuck them in the rich black earth,
Which was my summer flowers’ turf.
Mound them high with peat moss fill
To protect from winters’ chill.

When snow ‘n ice encase the world
And darkness through the days unfurl,
My flowering bulbs may not survive,
But Northerners like me will thrive.
One thing always helps us cope
In winter we subsist on hope!