Young Writers Project is a creative online community of teen writers, photographers, and artists, based in Vermont since 2006. Each week, VTDigger features the writing and art of young Vermonters who publish their work on youngwritersproject.org, a free, interactive website for youth 12-18 years old. To find out more, visit youngwritersproject.org, or contact Executive Director Susan Reid at sreid@youngwritersproject.org; 802-324-9538.
Fall
One moment, the trees are lit aflame; one blink later, the ashes of winter are falling from the sky. No season ever seems to pass as quickly as fall — yet therein lies its paradoxical beauty. This week’s featured writer, Wendell Durham of Thetford Center, observes the fleeting evanescence of autumn from his fireside.
“The Orchard” by Emilia Williams, 15, of Thetford Center.
By Wendell Durham, 14, of Thetford Center
Autumn is tentative at first. It comes as a smell in the dawn hours of the first cool mid-August day. It’s fresh, like new leather and ice; it brings promise, and a warning: It is not long you have before the icy cold engulfs you. Stack your firewood under the eaves, clear the ashes from your fireplace, cast your coat upon the hook, harvest your squash after first frost — winter is on its way.
In early September, autumn brings rain. The skies pour down, drenching the summer-parched land. The day comes in late September when on an early morn you don your flannel and step outside, only to realize one of the trees in your yard has caught fire, and the autumn blaze has begun.
Over the next few weeks, the fire spreads, casting its blazing glory upon the woods. As the leaves begin to drop, the promise made in August proves true: The air chills with the bare trees and the fires blink out in the evening. The geese take note and fly; the grass withers and dies. In time, snow will fly and light will hide, the holidays will come and go.
For now, I will sit in my armchair by the fire, watching the world change.
