Harvest Time

“We reap and we sow,

an emergence of pleasure.

The harvest begins.“

– Upon Learning, by Melissa Schwartz

“It is only the farmer who faithfully plants seeds in the Spring, who reaps a harvest in the Autumn.”
– B.C. Forbes

“Wake up now, look alive,
for here is a day off work just to praise Creation:
the turkey, the squash, and the corn,
these things that ate and drank sunshine, grass, mud, and rain,
and then in the shortening days laid down their
lives for welfare and onward resolve. . .
Thanksgiving is Creation’s birthday party.
Praise harvest, a pause and sign on the breath of immortality.”
– Barbara Kingsolver

Under the summer roses
When the flagrant crimson
Lurks in the dusk
Of the wild red leaves,
Love, with little hands,
Comes and touches you
With a thousand memories,
And asks you
Beautiful, unanswerable questions.
– Carl Sandburg, Under the Harvest Moon

After the summer’s yield, Lord, it is time
to let your shadow lengthen on the sundials
and in the pastures let the rough winds fly.

As for the final fruits, coax them to roundness.
Direct them on two das of warmer light
to hale them golden toward their term, and harry
the last few drops of sweetness through the wine.

Whoever’s homeless now, will build no shelter;
who lives alone will live indefinitely so,
waking up to read a little, draft long letters,
and, along the city’s avenues,
fitfully wander, when the wild leaves loosen.

– Rainer Maria Rilke
Translation by Mary Kinzie

“The law of harvest is to reap more than you sow.
Sow an act, and you reap a habit.
Sow a habit, and you reap a character.
Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.”
-James Allen

“The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.“
– William Blake