As I went out this morning, the world was in stasis. There was no sound, no movement. A faint smell of a distant bonfire.

Autumn brings with it a sense that I don’t get in other seasons… that you leave the world for sleep one day, and by the next day, some unseen hand has explored, hovered, left its trace. Sometimes it’s Jack Frost’s patterns on the windows. Sometimes it’s the snow dusting the rooftops.

But often it’s more subtle. Dew drips. Spider webs have become visible in the moisture. The world has changed.

It will change back by the end of the day, given a little autumn warmth. And then tonight, the unseen hand will return to re-do its work.