I once caught October and held it wriggling in my hand before it swam away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smaller than one might expect – only fourteen inches long – yet, there it was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The trout\u2019s flank – a shining field of goldenrod backlit by the setting sun. Deep, olive-green hemlock forests shot through with somber browns of oak along its back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Black spots – the eyes of whitetail deer as they ghost through aspen thickets. Scattered dots of crimson – blood from the hunters harvest spilled on ocher forest floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gill plate tinged with blue from a sky so clear and bright that thoughts drift unbidden to early season grouse hunts with dog still rusty and birds more often heard than seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leading edge of fins as white as the paper birches that grow along the tiny trickle in the hollow where the old doe leads her fawns to drink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
October, so pure and full of life, I desire to hold on – possess, prolong. But I must release so that this moment may return to me, next year and the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As October kicks from my grasp and dives deep into the steady current of time I am filled with hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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