6 Aban 1404
Quatrain 65 of 75
“Then said another with a long-drawn Sigh,
"My Clay with long oblivion is gone dry:
But, fill me with the old familiar Juice,
Methinks I might recover by-and-bye!"”
Reflection · Autumn 1404
In autumn the clay is at risk of drying again — the season is moving toward the conditions that produce oblivion. Methinks I might recover — by and bye — becomes, in autumn, a sentence about next spring. The long-drawn Sigh in autumn is different from the spring sigh. The spring sigh is relief. The autumn sigh is anticipation of the dryness to come.
Fill me with the old familiar Juice while it is still available, before the long oblivion sets in again. This is the autumn drinking: not celebration but preservation, the attempt to hold the summer's moisture a little longer.