Colors of Autumn
The turning of colors
like the turning of tides,
the waxing moon’s gradient shift
to fullness
in pearlescent light,
the chilly air’s osmosis
imperceptible,
permeating a blanket of warmth —
emeralds turn to topaz,
malachite to rubies,
nightingale songs grow faint
as in a moment’s dream —
I was here
many times before
and once again I am
swept in this lunatic array
of colors:
salmon and salamander,
citrine and vermilion,
french horns and trombone,
a cacophony of shades and tinctures —
these moments soon will pass
like many times before
yet for a little while
let me wrap myself
in the colors of Autumn:
Joseph’s coat
of many colors.
D. G. Vachal © 2025
Author’s note: This poem was inspired by a passage from “The Strings are False” by the Irish poet Louis MacNeice.
“The train for Jersey City was called the Blue Comet and I sat in a luxury Pullman car that was all windows and beyond the windows a reel of autumn madness, the maple trees gone drunk with colour. Tigers and wine, pimento, copper, coral, the bells of St. Clement’s jangling and fanfaronade of trumpets, fireworks out of the ground, Giorgione, Veronese, the tents of all the Sultans. People had told me about the American Fall, and this was it.” (“Louis MacNeice, The Strings are False, Faber and Faber Limited, Great Britain, 1965, p. 30.”)
Image by: chensiyuan, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
lilies, sparrows and grass 
Autumn’s wonderful turning of colours, an adventure in wordsmithing, beautifully written ✨🌼🧡
Thank you so much, Susan! I love the “adventure in wordsmithing”. Yes, it was truly an adventure trying to describe the colors of Autumn! 🍁🍂🧡♥️💛
Dear Dee, I love it!!! From “french horns and trombone,a cacophony of shades and tinctures —” to Joseph’s coat of many colors!! Great!! It’s great… the synasthesia…🙏🏽Ellen
Thank you so much, dear Ellen! So delighted you loved the sensory colors and sounds in this piece – I had fun playing with the words while composing it. 🩷🙏
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Thank you for visiting my blog. 🧡♥️
you’re so welcome!
Warm regards, Linda 🙂
Thank you Dee. It is good to visit this post once again. Such lovely words expressing the arrival of my favorite season. Autumn did not start in my locale until about a week ago.
I also want to let you know that your last comment on my site was put in the spam folder by WP and I did not notice it until a short time ago. I have since posted your comment, addressed the issue, and replied on my site. My apologies.
Thank you, RJ for your kind words about this poem. So good to know that your favorite season arrived not too long ago.
No worries at all about my comment on your noteworthy article! I thought my comment did not go through when I hit the “send” button. Glad to know you found it, and thank you for your great response.