Autumn’s Voices: Borland, Leopold, and Longfellow on Wind and Change

November 12, 2019

On this day, the voices of autumn come alive in the garden and beyond, carried on crisp winds and whispered through rustling cornfields.

These sounds are more than mere background noise—they are the season’s heralds, warning us gardeners and nature lovers alike to prepare for “chill days ahead,” and to savor the flickering warmth of firesides and the snug embrace of topcoats.

Two sounds of autumn are unmistakable, the hurrying rustle of crisp leaves blown along the street or road by a gusty wind, and the gabble of a flock of migrating geese.

Both are warnings of chill days ahead, fireside, and topcoat weather.

– Hal Borland, Naturalist

Borland’s keen ear captures the unmistakable soundtrack of the season—the rustle and rush of leaves dancing through the air, and the urgent calls of geese heading south.

For gardeners, these sounds signal a final celebration before the year’s lull, urging us to complete our autumn tasks before winter’s hush.

The wind that makes music in November corn is in a hurry.

The stalks hum, the loose husks whisk skyward in half-playing swirls, and the wind hurries on...

A tree tries to argue, bare limbs waving, but there is no detaining the wind.

– Aldo Leopold, Ecologist

Leopold’s imagery is a dance of energy and release—corn stalks humming their last tune, husks fluttering like notes on the breeze.

The wind, relentless and impatient, hastens along its course, indifferent to the bare pleas of the trees.

Here is the restless spirit of November captured in motion, a reminder that the season is not stillness but transition.

It is autumn; not without
But within me is the cold.
Youth and spring are all about;
It is I that have grown old.

– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Autumn Within

Longfellow’s introspective verse pairs the crispness of autumn's external world with an internal chill, a poignant meditation on time and change.

For the gardener who witnesses the cycle’s unyielding march season after season, these words resonate deeply—the outside may flourish, but within, we acknowledge the passing years alongside the garden’s renewal.

Thus, the sounds of November are not merely warnings of winter but intimate invitations—to listen, to reflect, and to ready both garden and heart for the slow, restorative passage ahead.