Autumn Poem by Galina Italyanskaya

Autumn, looking fragile like a russula,
Orphaned like a lone aspen leaf,
Tiptoeing into winter by the edge of the forest
Carefully,
Whispering: 'Turn away,
Do not peer! '
And wrapping herself in the dark-blue twilight
Like in a thinnest pellucid shawl,
Hand in hand with the rain,
Is going towards
The first morning hoarfrost,
The first snowfall...
So pitiful!
‘Cause all of them, autumns, are different,
And this one, waving her hand goodbye,
A charming ginger gray-eyed damsel,
Will vanish somewhere behind the stream.
And after the next summer, sooner or later,
Another autumn will suddenly come,
With no slightest glimmer of recognition
In the very same innocent clear grey eyes,
So similar to her, but still unrepeatable,
Like her younger sister or her own child.
Then, discarding the power of gold, she will leave me,
Disappear in the darkness of winter's night.

September 2018