Another Autumn ABC

Apple-boughs bend ‘neath the bounty of Red

Birch-leaf-shaped butterflies flutter by, gold

Candle-light flickers on limbs overhead

Dusk drips from lintels daylight cannot hold

Earth is a Masterpiece hung from the sky

Flower-like petals settle, paper-plush

Gilding streets with summer’s lost lullaby

Halo of heaven crowns bramble and brush

Is there a poem more perfect than this?

Jaded arrangements of wild, wind-swept vine

Kiss of a rain-runnel, smoky blue bliss

Love songs and laughter and tears intertwine

Marmalade mosaics stipple earth’s sod

Nature holds nothing back; its poets swoon

Orchestral lyrics penned by none but God

Pumpkin-pie happiness tickles poised spoon

Quilt-tatters scatter, rainbow splattered shroud

Row after row of harvest disappears

Skein of wild-geese skims yon-scrim of low cloud

Trees shed their glory like youth sheds its years

Under an awning of autumnal blaze

Vermilion rivers rush beneath our feet

Whispering echoes of fleet, sun-steeped days

X-tracting flavors of life, bitter-sweet

Young to old pause, awestruck by nature’s throng

Zenith of praise swells in Hallelujah-song

© Janet Martin