Autumn handmaid of summer
Clinging greedily to its green
Unwilling to let go of life
It vies with gold to be seen

Leaves glowing richly in sun
Changing slowly russet red
Or glorious butter yellow
Their beauty turns my head

A soft breeze stirs in the trees
Gently coaxing their wealth away
But there is a reluctance
To let the season have full sway

A carpet of their fallen bounty
Lies strewn here beneath my feet
And now the wind grows wilder
Drowning nature’s last heartbeat

Autumn herald of winter
A ghost in the evening mist
Abandoned and forever lost
Like a lover never kissed