A Fall Find

The fall foliage around my home is beautiful and at peek right now. I wrote about that yesterday. But look what I found on my morning walk.

I’ve never seen leafs with half one color and the the other half another hue. I’ve seen them mottled, speckled, and variegated, but not half and half.

What a delight.

"I now know why we call them leaves,

to soon they fall when frosted theives,

lure their green to red and golds

in colors soft and dazzling bolds.

Leafs drop from age and sometimes breeze

to land on lawns near shrubs and trees.

They drift in circles to the ground

in crinkling, cracking, scrunching sound.

O' leaves of branch and brush, behold!

Your service lasts despite the cold,

As quilts of warmth for creatures low,

beneath the ground, before the snow.

Some leaves will sail to lawns serene

where children's smiles can then be seen

waiting for the rake and pile

to leap upon and lie awhile.

But soon the crumpled stems and flake

are raked in rows for match to make

a downey flame and spired smoke,

incense of honor to the oak.

Then barren trees stand naked, strong,

to slice the wind of winters song.

Hard leaning forth from bending blow,

then snapping, weaving to and fro.

I know there is a message here,

where trees with leaves at end of year

do molt their husks of leafy sheen

so other seasons can be seen.

Thus trees and man are oft' alike,

in time each shed their aging haik.

What's left in silhouette pristine,

is life anew in spirit green.