哈爾·勃蘭德/Hal Borland
September is more than a month,really;it is a season,an achieveme nt in itself.It begins with August's leftovers and it ends with October's preparations,but along the way it achieves special satisfactions.Af ter summer's heat and haste,the year consolidates itself.Deliberate Se ptember--in its own time and tempo--begins to sum up another summer.
With September comes a sense of autumn.It creeps in one misty dawn and vanishes in the hot afternoon.It tiptoes through the treetops.roug ing a few leaves,then rides a tuft of thistle down across the valley an d away.It sits on a hill top and hoots like an October owl in the dusk.It plays tag with the wind.September is a changeling,busy as a squirre l in a hickory tree,idle as a languid brook.It is summer's ripen and r ichness fulfilled.
Some of the rarest days of the year come in the September season--da ys when it is comfortably cool but pulsing with life,when the sky is cl ear and clean,the air crisp,the wind free of dust.Meadows still smell of hay and the sweetness of cut grass.September flowers are less varied than those of May but so abundant that they make September another flowe ry month.Goldenrod comes by mid-August,but rises to a peak of golden a bundance in early September.Late thistles make spectacular purple accen ts.And asters blossom everywhere,along the roadsides,in meadows,on t he hilltops,even in city lots,ranging in color from pure white through all degrees of lavender to the royal New England purple.
We think of spring as the miracle time,when opening bud and new lea f proclaim the persistence of life.But September is when the abiding wo nder makes itself known in a subtler way.Now growth comes to annual fru ition,and preparations are completed for another year,another generati on.The acorn ripens and the hickory nut matures.The plant commits its future to the seed and the root.The insect stows tomorrow in the egg an d the pupa.The surge is almost over and life begins to relax.
The green prime is passing.The trees begin to proclaim the change.Soon the leaves will be discarded,the grass will sere.But the miracle of life persists,the mysterious germ of growth and renewal that is the seed itself.
This is gossamer season.Dawn shimmers with spider filaments,proof that late hatches of spiderlings have the instinct to travel.On such go ssamer strands tiny spiders have traveled into the Arctic and almost to the summits of the Himalayas.Soon milkweed pods will open with their si lver floss.
This is the season of the harvest moon.With reasonably clear skies it will be a moonlit week,for the harvest moon is not hasty;it comes e arly and stays late.There was a time when the busy farmer could return to the fields after supper and continue his harvest by moonlight.There's still harvesting to be done,but much of it now centers on the kitchen rather than the barns.The last bountiful yield comes from the garden,t he late sweet corn,the tomatoes,the root vegetables.The canning,the preserving,the freezing,the kitchen harvest in all its variety,reache s its peak.
First frost comes in the night,a clear,scant-starred night when th e moon is near its fullness.It comes without a whisper,quiet as thistl e down,brushing the corner of a hillside garden.Dawn comes and you see its path--the glistening leaf,the gleaming stem,the limp,blackening g arden vine.
Another night or two the frost walks the valleys in the moonlight.T hen it goes back beyond the northern hills to wait a little longer,and the golden mildness of early autumn comforts the land.A faint anise sme ll is on the air,goldenrod scent.The mist swirls and September shines through,the deep-blue sky of September.
To warm-blooded creatures,the crisp,cool nights of September are i nvigorating.But cold-blooded insects are at the mercy of the sun and no w their clocks run down.The cicada is stilled.The chorus of the cricke t and katydid diminishes.When they rash at all it is with the deliberat e tempo of a fiddler drawing a worn bow across fraying strings.
Now come the hoarding days.Mice have been harvesting and stowing se eds for weeks.The chipmunk lines his winter bedroom,and squirrel hide the nut trees,bounty.The woodchucks,gorging on grass and clover and f ruit,lay up their harvest in body fat under their own skins.
The flickers begin to gather for migration.All summer these big woo dpeckers were resolutely individual,busy with family life and wanting n o company.Now they are gregarious,with time for tribal gossip and comm unity play.The warblers and swallow shave already formed in premigratio n flocks;soon the robins will be gathering too.Nesting is completed,f ledglings are on their own,and there is food in plenty.September is va cation time for birds.Who knows but that they are discussing the trip a head?
By September's end the treasure chest of autumn begins to spill over with wealth.You see it glowing in the quiet afternoon,aflame in the su nset.Woodland,roadside and dooryard will soon be jeweled beyond a raja h's richest dreams.
The year's season in the sun has run its course.Nature begins to pr epare for winter.After the color in the woodlands.the leaves will blan ket the soil.The litter of autumn will become much,then humus for root and tender seed.The urgency of growth is ended for another year,but li fe itself is hoarded in root and bulb and seed and egg.
九月，的確不僅僅是一個月份，還是一個季節，一個收獲的季節。在八月離去的時候，它翩翩而來；在十月將要降臨的時候，它又徐徐離去。一路上，它悠然自得。曆經了夏日的酷熱和躁動，一年的時光開始走向成熟，九月踏著自己的節拍，不緊不慢地為來年夏天積蓄力量。
秋意跟隨著九月的腳步來臨了，它在籠罩著薄霧的黎明中蔓延，然後漸漸地消失在炎熱的午後。它拂過樹梢，染紅了樹葉，然後隨著一簇簇薊花絨毛飄過山穀，消失不見了。它有時停留在小山頂上，就像十月薄暮中的貓頭鷹；有時又與風兒追逐嬉戲，你躲我藏。九月，是一個富於變化的時節，夏日讓它變得成熟而富有。忙時，它像核桃樹上的鬆鼠，閑時則像緩緩流淌的小溪。
天空晴朗，涼爽怡人的空氣中充滿了生命的活力，吹來的風兒沒有一絲塵土。牧場上依然散發著幹草和刈草的味道。鮮花讓九月變成了另一個花的時節，這時的鮮花雖不如五月的鮮花那樣五彩斑斕，然而仍然繁盛，金菊在八月中旬就開始綻放，九月中旬便是它盛開得最茂盛的時期，晚些綻放的薊花把九月染成了壯觀的紫色。道路的兩側、草經和小山頂，甚至城市的空地上，到處都開滿了紫菀，它們顏色各異，從純白到紫色，再到深紫色。
春天是一個充滿奇跡的季節，新發的蓓蕾和嫩葉展示著生命的生生不息。然而，九月是妙趣紛呈的時節。萬物走進了一年中的成熟季節，完成了為迎接新的一年和新的一代所作的準備。橡樹果和山核桃都已經成熟，植物把未來的任務交付給了種子和根莖，昆蟲把未來裝進了卵蛹。洶湧即將逝去，生命進入了放鬆的狀態。
綠色正在褪去，樹木開始露出變化的跡象。不久，樹葉就要凋落，草葉就要幹枯。然而，生命仍在持續，而生長與更新的神秘源泉就是種子。
在黎明的微光中，蜘蛛的細絲表明，晚生的小蜘蛛天生就有旅行的本能。這些小蜘蛛乘著纖細的蛛網，一路爬到了北極，幾乎就要爬上喜馬拉雅山脈的巔峰。長著銀色細毛的馬利筋豆莢不久也要熟得裂開了。
這是一個收獲的季節，天空是那麽清澈，這將是月光照耀的七天。它不慌不忙，早早地來臨，遲遲地歸去。曾經有那麽一些日子，農民們吃過晚飯，又回到田地，然後在月光下繼續收割。現在，仍然有許多農活等著農民們去做，但大多不是在穀倉，而是集中在廚房裏。菜園是農民獲得豐厚收獲的最後一個地方，那裏有晚收的甜玉米、西紅柿和塊根菜。這時候也是一年中廚房最為繁忙的時節，在那裏，農民們要把收獲的各種果實裝罐、保存以及冷凍。
在一個月朗星稀的夜晚，第一次霜降來臨了。它如飛絮般悄無聲息地拂過山坡上菜園的一角。破曉之際，從發亮的葉片、閃光的樹幹和柔軟發黑的藤蔓上，人們仍舊看到它留下的痕跡。
此後的另一個夜晚，也許是兩個夜晚，月光灑向大地，寒霜越過山穀，返回北山以外的地方，將在那裏作稍長時間的逗留。金色溫暖的陽光愛撫著初秋的大地，空氣中散發出陣陣的茴香味道和金**的香氣，九月令人眩暈的陽光穿透了湛藍的天空。
九月的夜晚，空氣清爽，溫血動物變得非常活躍。然而，冷血動物的生物鍾越走越慢，因為對它們來說，失去陽光就意味著失去生氣。蟬、蟋蟀和紡織娘都不再鳴叫，如果它們同時鼓噪起來，就好像小提琴演奏家用一根破損的弦，以慢悠悠的節奏劃過殘留下的幾根舊弦。
儲存食物的時間到了。幾個星期以來，老鼠一直在忙著搬運果實，它們的收獲頗豐。花栗鼠把自己冬眠的居所填滿，鬆鼠把樹上的堅果都摘了下來，土撥鼠為了在體內囤積厚厚的脂肪，吃下了大量的草葉、苜蓿和果子。
金翼啄木鳥開始聚集起來，它們要準備遷徙了。整個夏天，這些大型飛禽都堅持單獨活動，也不結交夥伴，隻是忙於家庭生活。現在，它們在部落裏走家串戶，遊戲玩耍，過著群居的生活。鶯燕已經聚集起來準備遷徙，知更鳥不久也要碰頭了，鳥巢已經修築好了，並儲存了大量食物，幼鳥將要獨立生活。九月是鳥類度假的月份，經知道它們之前是如何把遷徙旅行商定下來的呢？
九月即將結束，秋天的寶庫被裝得滿滿的，幾乎要溢出來了。在安靜的午後，它們熠熠生輝，到了黃昏，它們又變得像燃燒的火焰一般。樹林裏、道路旁及庭院中，都好像鑲嵌著珠寶，這是一個連帝王做夢都想不到的事情。
在陽光下，九月沿著自己的路途繼續前進著，大自然準備迎接冬季的來臨。林木的顏色已經褪去，落葉給大地鋪上了一層地毯，整個大地披上了秋裝，根莖和柔弱的種子汲取著贈與的營養。生命將自己放進了根莖、籽卵之中，它們停止了生長的渴望，等待下一年的來臨。