I sure miss the cool crisp days of October in New England. Here it was 94 today but you can still tell it’s October here in the Valley of the Sun by the way the swimming pool’s water temperature is dropping like a rock. I went for a nice swim yesterday and today but this could very well be the last weekend for that – the water temp is 72 and, while that might be acceptable for an ocean outing at Hampton Beach in mid-September, it’s starting to get a little nippy for that kind of thing here. Anyways, this is a lovely poem from a Roman Catholic website I happened upon and I hope you enjoy it:

I came to thee when life’s sweet maybells rang
And bright-eyed daisies in the field were seen,
When youthland’s thrush its morning carol sang
And bridal birch trees in festive green;
I whispered prayers in deep childlike trust:
My soul was unsoiled by sin’s gray dust.

I came to thee again in life’s high noon,
When heart and eye burned in ambition’s glow,
When first success set up its gay festoon,
And distant stars appeared so near and low;
I spoke my prayers loud, triumphantly,
Yet with a secret fear that haunted me.

I come once more now that life’s dusk is nigh
And offer thee my weary heart’s last love;
My eyes grow dimmer and more dark the sky,
All earth’s enchantments vanish while above
I see thy face and hear thee beckon me:
Come, rest thy head upon thy mother’s knee.