Splash red -
A rush of autumn leaves that
Bled away their beauty as they
Died upon the breeze.
Frost.
Leaves lost.
Stocky frames -
Thinning at the dendrites -
Animate their colour under dusk:
A paling brown,
Emerging grey -
Deeper, darker -
Leads to black:
Silhouettes braced for winter,
Like monuments of hardiness
Against the freeze.
Barely hanging overhead, charcoal-grey cha**is
Buckle under silent flow of ever-stacking billows
While stings in the face foretell the ice-blight.
An arrow-bound wind builds,
Penetrating flesh,
Whistling out its warning
To the nakedness of winter woods -
Fair-weather green coats too fickle for the stay.
Summer died upon another eon.
Autumn scampered from the chill.
But the trees fought back; upheld their dignity -
No fuss, pomp, or thrill.