The great Spring exhale
of life after winter’s frigid barrenness.

Leaves and blooms, green re-birth—
a riot of color:
yellows, purples, magenta,
as blossoms burst.

Delight unfurls at their arrival,
lifetimes played out through a season—
arriving, arising, aspiring.

We walk unhurried through abundance,
of season
fullness will never fade,
forgetting the fragile breath of time,
its passage—
luxuriating in warmth, on sun-drenched days
Days spent in
illusion of endless season

Betrayed.
By the sudden shock of fall.

the sudden morning chill,
evening light withdrawing,
horizon dusk rushing too early.

a final blaze of color,
reds, oranges, golds, yellows
twirling, spinning, laughing on the wind,
one last playful pirouette.

Russet—
the quiet rustle of memory,
settling gently into earth,
and color goes back to sleep.

Originally written: unknown date - completed 9/1/2025