Wind Chimes are Silent

Brown porch railing shines;
Sun glows through the yellow leaves;
Wind chimes are silent.

Reflecting the world--
One drop of water on limb.
Rooster crows at sun.

Those silver tassels
Once waves of glistening light,
Now becoming dry.












Brown leaf and dead snake
Lie together on the road.
Plane hums high above.

Even evergreens
Are not always ever green.
They yellow and die.











Last leaf on the tree
Desiccated, brown and frail,
Just won't give it up.










With its flagpole tail
Chipmunk races across road.
I know it's watching.


Leaf falls silently;
Sun glows through the yellow bush;
Blades of grass glisten.

Topsy Turvy Trick

Gray sky and brown leaves;
Yellow tree next to green pine;
Mirror in kitchen.










She walks carefully,
Carrying something precious--
It's her grand daughter.








Caught between the rocks:
Giant leaves--flotsam;
(Or is it jetsam?)












Like a wooden rune,
Missing fence post makes letter
Spelling whatever.












Thick blanket of leaves
Falls across the forest floor.
White blanket follows

Moss, ferns on the log
Flourishing while others ebb;
Topsy turvy trick.









Crow calls across the sky;
Air is scented, soft and misted
With a touch of gray.

Suddenly silence--
Even the birds become mute.
Then the sun comes out.

Small Resurrection

Bright streaks of sunlight
Fly up the white farm house
Bringing it to life.

Violin and fan
Lie in delicate embrace.
What is their story?









It's almost freezing;
Gloves wait in my pocket;
Wind blows up the road.











The flowers have left,.
Still St. Francis stands watching
For a miracle.









Stored winter heating
Lies in a tumbled wood pile
Waiting for release.

In morning sunlight
Dried out seed puffs come to life--
Small resurrection.









Old tree stump monster
Still holds the rock in his jaws;
But is not chewing.












No longer hidden:
Large nests high in the tree top;
Their builders long gone.

Wood to Wood it Goes

Porch is glistening;
Grayness hangs over the road;
Brown leaves are soggy.

Silhouetted leaf
Floats across the mottled sky.
Goat stares in doorway.









Patches of white light
Rise slow above the tree tops.
Smoke and wet grass smell.

Small lone blue flower
Hangs on amidst the brownness.
A single bird cries.

Gray coat on gray road;
Walking determination--
She passes me by.











More leaves on the ground
Than on the shedding branches--
World's turned upside down.

Sun breaks through the cloud;
Patch of road glistens alive,
Then grows dim again.


Zig zagging downward,
Large leaf slices to the ground;
Small leaves float after.

Red leaf on red bush:
Coincidence of the wind,
Unplanned camouflage.









Distant crow chatter
Serenading the gray sky,
Hastening the clouds.

The rolled up phone book
Still wedged between two tree limbs--
Wood to wood it goes.

It's Good to Be Home

Moths flicker inside;
Noon shadows fall on brown leaves.
It's good to be home.










Yellow leaf cluster
Hangs as if it is alive.
Who is it fooling?

Trees shedding their leaves;
Crow sits on top of bare tree
Naked as the sky.

Tapping of dry leaves;
Wet rustle of running stream;
Call of a lone bird.

Last summer's soccer--
Dry leaves cover the goal base.
What is the score now?












It is by this road
Where they will spread my ashes
So they fall like leaves.


Sunlight through the leaves
Brings them to life once again
With a yellow glow.












Small pale blue flowers
Rise on a mound of dead leaves.
Breeze lifts and then falls.

Swirling Silhouettes

Brown leaves are soggy;
Yellow leaves quiver on leaves.
Car leaves empty sound.

It's become the tree--
Wooden owl's been there so long
Watching and waiting.












Break in the gray sky--
Patch of blue between the clouds
Rolls swiftly across.

A flurry of leaves
Sweeps across the the leaden sky--
Swirling silhouettes.









Painted with moisture
Dead leaves becomes a palette
For an Autumn brush.

Beyond the thick clouds
Insistent cry of a crow
Shouting at something.

It's almost raining;
Thick gray clouds are gathering;
But there's light ahead.

Why do they wave back,
Those passing cars I wave at?
I do not know them.

Autumn Glistening

Squirrel across the leaves
matches the gray cloudiness.
Dim morning unfolds.

A misting of rain
Coats the surface of the road--
Autumn glistening.\











Rattle in the leaves--
Wind and rain cooperate.
Autumn glistening.

LATER


Rain and clouds have passed;
Sun lights up patches of grass.
Goats look idyllic.









One ragged leaf
Absorbs the light of the sun--
Becomes a plant moon.









An endless moment--
Clouds conceal the sunshine:
Strange hooded twilight.

Fiddles when they're young;
Fiddles when they are no more--
Fern to fern cycle.









Woods grow dark quickly;
Clouds and evening conspire.
Only the birds speak.

Debris of Autumn

The grayness of Fall;
Different than Spring or Summer--
Marked by the brown leaves.













Slowly disrobing
Trees becomes a skeleton,
Thin fingers pointing.










Still they're persisting
These clumps of tiny colors--
Beacons in the gloom.

In Spring they were green:
Billowed ferns across the stream.
Now they turn yellow.













St. Anthony's back,
Watching over some flowers
Before the snow falls.









Moss layer peeks out
From under dead leaves and twigs--
Debris of Autumn.



From dead leaves and rock
A spray of small blue flowers.
In unity, strength.

Blown across the road
A dry leaf ends in new woods;
Always adventure.













Mysteriously
Two dead leaves hang by thin stems,
Quiver in the breeze.