Autumn's Burnished Canopy

"Autumn knows a mother's heart. It gives and then lets go."~ Angie Weiland-Crosby How proudly she stood, surmounting the tallest hill, a blazing maple tree whose limbs spread far and wide. In Summer, her green leaves swayed upon soft breezes, but Autumn painted them shades of crimson and rust. A burnished canopy, gilded by golden rays of the sun. Ruffled by an errant wind, each leaf danced like a flame before her limbs were barren, left in a state of malaise. The stinging of the season's first frost caused her to weep. Gnarled were her empty branches, as she stood weeping. She was bereft and grieving as if she'd lost her children. Maple held deep loathing for the changes of this season, when leaves withered and the world was gloomy brown. She endured Fall and Winter's snow by dreaming of Spring when again she would glow on the summit of the tallest hill. Pleased with her budding foliage and a newborn sapling, she'd be dressed in green finery, where songbirds would nest.