Dark grey first autumn breath a bone chill hint,
summer’s sun- rash boom absconds on trailing glint,
luscious terrain brazen in hue’d rose cheek,
hazy mountain slope a sombre damp peak,
tint and tapestry awakened brisk fall gasp,
dapper drift net shades spawned to grasp,
pigment in meadow mould a gold rim beige,
tone shift bold red, earth brown, copper rage,
sweet gum tree orange, purplish fervent die,
to sniff katsura pink tree, charred candy sigh,
hail harvest bountiful, heart rippling feast,
red fire ablaze, hungry tongue wild yeast
beetroot, turnip, parsnip, root crops galore,
“Falls” raw lungs whiff hearty soup of yore,
yet honey-tinged morn, fleet of foot pause,
fades as cold plummet primes its icy claws,
green copse shrunk, drab moon weepy tune,
woodsy wren hoarding food in mournful croon.
mud squelch booth on path, smog purged lair,
wet moss splurge rinses pollen, season gulps air
Death Of A Sweet Gum
Miracle Man
3/14/2022
Leaves cascading as if indiscriminately lost,
casualties of nature and multiple nights frost.
Once a coat of many colors on our Sweet Gum Tree,
they’ve quickly become just more yard debris.
Leaving exposed, a tree with prickly brown balls,
that will winter as ugly until the last one falls.
This yearly problem no more sticks in my craw,
my light bulb moment was my Stihl chain saw.
Varoom, varoom, varoom.
Liquidambar Styraciflua
(Sweet Gum Tree, the Sandbur of the Forest)
Written: by Tom Wright
10-25-2016
After each leaf has slowly surrendered its green
They take on the colors of a painter’s palette,
Some mimicking the sun while affixed to twigs,
Others with orange, copper and red hues;
A north wind is whispering,
As if to say, Your time is nearing.
Soon they’ll release their hold
To the order of nature, and cascade downward;
The next to descend will be those nettlesome fruit balls
Which left until mowing become launched as grenades,
And the Spring Itch which I must scratch;
They provide little shade, pollute our yard, oft infested by web worms,
And considered one of the ten most dangerous trees you can plant in your yard.
Yet their fall colors have preserved their existence in our yard.
Tom
As a child at play
In the merry month of May
Wallowing the hours away
As one would surely say
Lying neth old sweet gum tree…
sipping a glass of sassafras tea
A pork chop tied to my neck you see…
possibly the dog will play with me
The sky is my dominion galore…
Blue infinity of divinity and more
A thunder head rumbles with a roar
Childhood imaginations explore
Ole Brownie at my side
Constant companion abide
The heart of hog dog inside
Now roams heaven with pride
One day my own Adamantine
Will see again this dog of esteem
Many frayed earthly forms I’ve seen
And blossoms of May in beauty’s esteem
by John Moses Freeman
A tree of height dreams was vast Sweet gum it seems,
when I chance to retrace tender childhood thoughts.
Young dreams of enemy's luck in classic schemes.
Thoughts would drift as wars with my demons were fought.
An old Sweet gum tree, my womb of strong support,
she mothered my dreams, fetus did not abort.
Divine boughs call now I Godly dedicate,
my witness by grace, as I still meditate.
======================
4/19/2011
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