Autumn

The Autumn Salon

Today the tree is flush

with bronze and ochre highlights 

and ringlets of clustered red berries

Its roots are still green

And its need for a new tint and colour apparent

And though I will daily sweep 

and gather its shorn clippings

for reconstruction as mulch

or fertiliser or compost extensions

Sometime between now and Winter’s end

I will stop noticing

And the sight of its shaven pate in January

will startle me, and beg the question:

When did that happen?

Copyright with Cathy Leonard 2018