Autumn's Blaze

Autumn hid trails neath frostbitten ground
And fires were smothered as wind softly soughed
That day when the skies turned revealing their gloom
And summer's bright heart became winter's cold womb

I sat in the shadows of branches laid bare
Gave voice to a wish in the silent still air
And as the wind stopped it let golden leaves fall
Adorning my glade in their flaming red sprawl

Therein a calm did envelop our earth
Therein my spirit could find its rebirth
So I begged those fell winds to stand still in their path
I begged for the Autumn to levee her wrath

With black skies above us and red leaves below
The shrubs spoke their death-throes and withered alone
Barbed branches stabbed skyward in forests unknown
Where dark clouds stood so mighty, a wreath for your throne!

A headstone of old stood amidst twisted roots
In death torn apart from all earthly pursuits
Red droplets obscuring the path to his grave
To earth he returned in the spiraling shade

And rivers sprawled outwards from peaks far above
I stood and I watched the celestial flood
In tears of lightfall, with tears of rain
She washed away humanmade memory and pain

O, under those arching boughs how I prayed!
So the beauty of autumn could never now fade
So my homeland forevermore could be clad
In the glory of Autumn's Blaze!