Tree trunk colonnades

Carpeted in golden leaves

A woodland palace 

Dry brown leaves swept up

By the wind left in your wake

Then crushed and broken 

The long shadows fall

Dragging us into winter 

I swim between dreams 

Faded autumn shades

Pulling me out of myself 

I stumble and fall

Clouds of dry leaves

Kicked up across the playground 

Shedding an old skin

The sound of acorns

The smell of fresh cuckoo spit

The taste of hedgerows 

Hard brown acorn shells

Scattered across muddy paths

Germination chance 

In woolly jumpers 

Wrapped against brisk evening air

Anticipation

Gradually fading

Green, gold, ochre, scarlet, brown

Autumn leaves slowly 

Clattering starlings

The black waves form, flock and flow

In murmuration 

Pale soft chestnut shells

Left broken, crushed and empty

Autumn is giving 

A harvest morning

We’re gleaning and gathering

The baskets are full