Autumn Symphony

Branchy silhouettes

Hide lost secrets in misty veils

Golden leaves drop on wet greensward

In the twilight.

Is the grass greener in this

Murky light?

***

Lit windows cast warm beams into the evening

But geese depart and call hoarsely

In the skies

***

Chestnut vendors peel away the shells

Of seared nuts to clear their sweet cores.

They smile as tired children

Come to warm their hands.

The coals glow in the barrels and

Smoke curls around the tree trunks’ rough bark

Such visions belong to Autumn

Season of decay and

Bittersweet longing

***

© HMH, 2020