The harbingers are come. See, see their mark; br White is their colour; and behold my head. br -- George Herbert br br Long gone the smoke-and-pepper childhood smell br Of the smoldering immolation of the year, br Leaf-strewn in scattered grandeur where it fell, br Golden and poxed with frost, tarnished and sere. br br And I myself have whitened in the weathers br Of heaped-up Januaries as they bequeath br The annual rings and wrongs that wring my withers, br Sober my thoughts, and undermine my teeth. br br The dramatis personae of our lives br Dwindle and wizen; familiar boyhood shames, br The tribulations one somehow survives, br Rise smokily from propitiatory flames br br Of our forgetfulness until we find br It becomes strangely easy to forgive br Even ourselves with this clouding of the mind, br This cinerous blur and smudge in which we live. br br A turn, a glide, a quarter turn and bow, br The stately dance advances; these are airs br Bone-deep and numbing as I should know by now, br Diminishing the cast, like musical chairs.