POINTS TO PONDER XXXVI

From Reader's Digest
John Ed Pearce

                                                September's Song

September is a time of transition, of departures and arrivals, good-byes and hellos. The lifeguard snaps the lock on the fence around the swimming pool, now drained and lonely, and turns his thoughts toward his fraternity's rush week. The six-year old takes one last look at her mother in the station wagon before she pushes open the door to the first grade and the world. At airports, parents gaze after sons and daughters leaving for college and wonder where the years have gone.
   The days grow shorter, but heat still lashes the land. Thistles grow purple along the roadside, and milkweed pods begin to burst and float their feathered seed upon the wind. The light is not the slanting light of fall, though birds begin short, restless flights, and mornings turn cool. Still, there is something in the evening air, something about the browning fields tired of heat but not yet ready for frost, something about the brightness of the moonlight, the haze of evening, something that says not yet - not quite yet.
   Play for a while,enjoy the sun, the warmth, the green. But keep an eye on time. Time passing by. Balanced, measured, merciless time.