The Last Bright Days of Elul

The Last Bright Days of Elul Rosh Hashanah comes early this year. I.L. Peretz wrote of the "last bright days of Elul," the month before new year's time. Hot, with nineties just last week, sliding to the eighties. Our climate lags behind the Russian, brings a later autumn. This year, one year since you left, the month can't decide whether to preserve summer or start on fall. You left us between the seasons. Some part of me stays in that between when you were going, wanting you to sleep, to stay between the worlds. For me you are here still in the early New Year, sleeping in the summer-fall, new season to bring the year when it's too early and the leaves stay green or drop yellow from no rain. Do you keep the New Year from starting before the leaves turn? I keep you and memory from falling.