Earthtones

The ruby-throated hummingbird has gone her way,
and, too, the azure-bellied lizard with his curious and glittering eye.
Cottonwood leaves cavort and flitter –
golden coins against a cobalt sky.
Autumn’s fire burns itself to embers --
burgundies and plums and umbers
littering the forest floor.
Once flaxen aspen leaves blanch pale
to shiver helplessly before
the first November blow.

And then, the snow
in grays and blue.
The land turns quiet and serene
as Winter wraps herself in muted hue.
Like graphite scratches on an empty page,
blackened branches starkly stand -
their ashy shadows darkening the milky land.

Through January’s frosty mantle,
crocus pokes her pinky head.
Rust robin sings –
both heralding the bright cacophony of spring.
In his frilly crimson collar,
gaudy tulip sways and dips.
Iris lures her fuzzy buzzing suitors
in their black and yellow jackets
when she opens wide her violet lips.

Apple tree and apricot now drop
their fleshy blossoms to the ground.
Impatient leaflings burst in tones of citrine and chartreuse.
A summer storm lets loose its bustle and its sound
to dampen verdant garden beds
where ripe tomatoes hide their heads
from yellow squash and orange peppers,
midnight grapes and rosy-ribboned chard.

Reflected in a placid stream,
grasses, horsetails, poplars, reeds
become a lush collage of green.
Above them, cakey clouds
adorn the turquoise sky.

A silky rippling disturbs the scene.

One autumn leaf floats by.