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I

Almost Antietam

CHAPTER ONE

There are those days which see in of breath which, held, suspends the whole earth in its waiting Some summers refuse to end

So along the road those flowers spread that, when touched, give down a shower of autumn rust By every path it looks as if a ruined circus had passed and loosed a trail of ancient iron at every turning of a wheel The rust was laid out everywhere, strewn under trees and by riverbanks and near the tracks theone but went no ether turned to s upon the rim of autumn

‘Look, Doug,’ said Grandpa, driving into town froe pumpkins picked fresh from the patch ‘See those flowers?’

‘Yes, sir’

‘Farewell su That’s the naust come back Farewell summer’

‘Boy,’ said Doug, ‘that’s a sad name’

Grand fro in the bowl, a su from the yield of other years She touched the swell beneath the muslin cap It was the earth on the morn before the arrival of Adaer in the garden bed

Grandht lay across the yard and filled the apple trees with gold and echoed the same words:

‘Farewell summer Here it is, October 1st Tes are out under the trees The leaves won’t turn A body would like to cry and laughs instead Get up to the attic, Doug, and let the mad maiden aunt out of the secret room’

‘Is there a

‘No, but there should be’

Clouds passed over the lawn And when the sun came out, in the pantry, Grandma almost whispered, Summer, farewell

On the front porch, Doug stood beside his grandfather, hoping to borrow so to cry, soer shaving tonic had to suffice A top spun in his chest, now light, now dark, nowhis eyes with salt water

He surveyed the lake of grass below, all the dandelions gone, a touch of rust in the trees, and the s from the far east

‘Think I’ll go eatsaid