A hushed Autumn descends, apologetically,
Suspending the flow of life-giving juices.
Leaves unhinge, their legions
Tumbling, crisp-veined corpses,
Imparting backbone and velvet
To the lung- caressing air.

The smiling Sun King, his potency waning,
Accepts his reduced workload with grace and relief.
Sun-baked creatures stir instinctively,
Earth's nose-twitching handmaidens -
Sensing the mantle's dwindling energy
Through thickening paw pads.

A million tiny deaths, seen and sensed,
Unfolding in ordered orchestration -
Nature's unforgiving technicolor prelude
To ordained, habitual rebirth.
A fitting, finite requiem
Rehearsed through all eternity.

10/14/2006

Author's Note: Sweater weather.

Posted on 10/14/2006
Copyright © 2025 Terry Olynik