parallel clouds incise brazen pink, sultry purple
no, carmine and burgundy, jewels and fine wines

russet dried bushes vainly wave
in a field of golden grass
that lay down long ago
a horizon of radiant line between
the swirl of ink wash clouds
sodden clusters of leaves
too tired, tied instead to where they lie
the collapse and removal of summer continues

sky alive, dances coloured hues,
fury and action, rushes by a hundred feet
above our heads; we, made of mud, aloof
and fading, sled drab and quotidian

it is the small amongst the immense that shines
a drudge spray of tall grass is transmuted
by an errant sunbeam into a beacon of life
against a field of decay; a wave in the harbour,
suddenly translucent, emerald,
hangs perfect, impossible … falls, then
rises, again and again

autumn is nature’s décolletage; the change from her
sumptuousness, into the sere and elegant whites that play
so well against eveningwear, tuxedos and top hats; we view
her with pleasure, her elegance traced in line and flower
highlight of the evening, her gown the talk of the ball
radiant before a background of deep velvet wallhangings
that curl into tendrils, start at Persian carpets and erupt
into frescoes that coyly disappear into shadow, the constant
shift of appearance she insists upon, ever increasing night

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