IN AUTUMN
By Joan Conroy, Saco
Against a late October sky
the landscape burns
with leafy gems of amber
ruby red and gold.
On a distant hillside
the quality of light deepens
as we gaze in wonder
at the quiet majesty of trees.
Scarlet maples, quaking aspens and white oaks, their leaves, like fragile aging
painted ladies
shiver softly in the wind.
Now, with uncommon grace
whose time has come,
these dowager queens
of autumn
silently fall
upon the earth, becoming
hushed heaps
of gold and crimson softness.
