Community Gallery: To The Light of September

Many of us have songs and poems to mark a season. In summer it might have been Morgan Harper’s Let July be July, Let August be August – a balm for uncertainty.

And now the ghost month ends, tucking away with it the summer days spent under the sun, the worries of an evening, the hope of a morning and the excitement of an afternoon.

Slowly, we’ll watch September unfurl. Even in regions without the four seasons the start of the Ber months (the four remaining months of the year) signal a change in the atmosphere, and sometimes things felt within.

In my part of the world, September means the unofficial start of the Christmas season. We joke around with mainstream Christmas songs, too cheery for our taste. Oftentimes we'd unintentionally celebrate the season of the dead in late October and early November along with Christmas lights and colorful lanterns–a mixing of different intentions.

How much different will this year be? We can only hope inspiration continues to tug at our sleeves, for some fire to keep burning although some confusion or question may remain.

In this gallery, we've gathered images from community members reminiscent of the coming of September, accompanied by the poem To the Light of September by W.S. Merwin.

When you are already here
you appear to be only
a name that tells of you
whether you are present or not

and for now it seems as though
you are still summer
still the high familiar
endless summer
yet with a glint
of bronze in the chill mornings
and the late yellow petals
of the mullein fluttering
on the stalks that lean
over their broken
shadows across the cracked ground

but they all know
that you have come
the seed heads of the sage
the whispering birds
with nowhere to hide you
to keep you for later

you
who fly with them

you who are neither
before nor after
you who arrive
with blue plums
that have fallen through the night

perfect in the dew

Do you have a favorite photo taken in September? Share them with us below!

written by sylvann on 2023-09-04 #people #places #summer #autumn #september #community #dew