Fall the Exterior Decorator

Scissoring branches cut ribbons of wind As the wall of the distant dawn Paints itself gold A few fugitive leaves scurry away While their fellows cling to the bough And whisper papery lament Fingers of frost cake the roots beneath And trapped in the stiff ground Lonely seeds await Cold and steady beneath heated hues Of the hands and veins of the fallen Succor to the next season The new sun's bright yawning shout Makes the ice on pond sweat The hoar turns to dew The knowing seed, the patient seed Puny seed nestles in the earth Its parent droops its cracked nudity At last spry green tendrils peek To read the eyeless braille of spring Out of softened soil Immortal soil, rotten soil The life-giving rot The rot giving life