Autumn Day

Darkened skies That cloaks the night, slowly fade away And the melodic songs of birds, are heard Heralding a bright new day As the earth begins to feel the warmth Of a sultry, soft sun’s heat Morning mists envelop the ground Like a pure white silken sheet From beneath the shroud, rustling is heard As small creatures leave their lairs Scurrying around, on their hunt for food That will be their winter fayre Berries, nuts and soft ripe fruit Abundant on bushes and trees Will be harvested and stored away To sustain through winter’s freeze Dawn’s crisp frost begins to melt And a tapestry of colour is seen Of lustrous reds, orange, yellows and gold As nature changes from summer’s green There’s a nip in the air, A chill in the breeze, rustling through the trees Creating a kaleidoscope snowstorm Of gently falling leaves Treading majestically through the leaves Is a magnificent, male, red deer His melancholy, soulful, mating call Tells that rutting time is here It echoes to the river, where a hint of a splash Forms rings, as the salmon rise And from their homes in the bank, sand martins dart To feast on insects and flies While across in the meadow, profuse with blooms Rabbits and field mice run free As butterflies dance from flower to flower To the drone of bumble bees And in a patchwork landscape of fertile fields Both sheep and cattle laze Sleepy, from having eaten their fill Of the lush, fecund, grass they graze As I take a stroll through these idyllic scenes It leaves me breathless, with no words to say On how anything can ever, be compared To the beauty of an autumn day.