Rodents gather nuts

Stored against the winter months

But how do they know?

Owls swoop overhead

We settle down by the fire

As the years fly by

Cast into fathoms

Floundering to keep afloat

So out of my depth

Leaves cling stubbornly

Despite howling Autumn gales

Gleaning the last rays

Everything I touch

Turns from gleaming burnished gold

To decaying loam

Sun scorched seed heads hang

In the last hot day of fall

Sown by the wolf wind

Out of the darkness

The black forest burning bright

Until cold rain fell

Long yellow grasses

September left us with gifts

Of brambly apple

Inside dark houses

Where secretly spiders crawl

An old floorboard creaks

The chill in the air

Though the sky is clear and blue

Leads summer away

Pack your winter bags

Heading out into the snow

Into the unknown

Rusty blood stained knees

Remind me of summer rides

Many moons ago

Dodge between raindrops

Into little makeshift dens

Until the storms pass

Deep underwater

Fish illuminate their prey

Perpetual night

Mixing black and white

Hands jump and fingers wiggle

To a wordless tune

Flickering snake tongues

Licking at gnarled wounds like salt

Kindling old flames

From my crow’s nest peak

Rows of houses all the same

Follow the money

Wrapped up in darkness

Seeds of doubt germinating

Waiting for the dawn

Hanging from dark clouds

High pressure raining downpours

We are washed away

Summer flowers float

Slowly downstream to the sea

Can you capture me?

In the dark silence

Of the words that went unsaid

Cut loose drifting lost

Brown butterfly wings 

Dry and frail like pressed flowers

Such beauty in death

An ancient tortoise

Slowly lumbering southward

Yet always at home 

As the river flows

So each day slips quickly by

Never to return