Aestivation's End

A Magpie Tale

 

Summer Night, 1913, by Albert Bloch

Vetr and his daughters
step out of their summer chalets,
yawn, stretch,
exchange nods across the valleys
and begin to descend.

They tiptoe and stomp,
gracefully glide or slump down to rest,
leaving a touch of frost here,
early snow there,
across the autumnal landscape.

They may admire the warm-hued leaves
or pity the farmer's harvest,
and spare their chilling touch
for a while.  They may not. 

But they walk along,
change drifting in their wake
as they go south
for the winter.



Aestivation: dormancy during periods of heat and drought
Vetr: Old Norse for Winter