It's Golden!

Golden light
Golden leaves
Golden air
Golden earth.

No fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin
Spins gold from straw at this address.
No yellow brick road
Dances toward the Emerald City.
No celluloid print
No well-worn book
Shapeshifts into this golden autumn day.

This precious gold
Has no proprietor.
No author, no director.
No princess. No dwarf.
No whirlwind trip from Kansas
Nor thrice-clicked heels
to get from here—where’s here?—to there.

It surges out of earth
each spring. A stream
of life-filled sap
to dimple buds,
glow into emerald leaves,
Harbor nests of songbirds,
Release oxygen to an azure sky.

And, yes, as
Darkness overtakes day
And temperatures plummet,
Golden shines from sky
Falls to earth
Composts to richness
Readies itself.

Though it feels like forever
Soon enough it will rise
through roots, trunk,
branches, leaves
Pressing skyward
Then floating ...
gently, down....

Each fall a fantasy unfurls
Calling trees to harmonious collusion:
It’s a seasonal dispute. As glossy summer green
Shrinks, shivering, from winter’s wiles
Fall brackets herself between them
Saluting both
With golden flames of brilliance.


Here, Under the Forest Canopy, we’re plunged into a blaze of gold. The forest, characteristically dark and quiet, demands: “See me. Adore my beauty. Breathe it in deeply.”

Fall’s grand display nears its final curtain call. Leaves drift toward Earth more quickly. Their light-infused hue darkens as they fade from brilliant yellow to rose, rust, then trembling brown.... Soon enough they’ll blacken ‘neath a thick down of white.

But next year we re-member this story....

The cast of characters remains the same with some old wood logged off and new, hardy saplings standing straight and true. The costumes, of course, are fully recycled. They’ll look like new—made fresh this season—since no one player dares wear the same dress twice. The colors are astonishing. You’ll swear that you’ve never seen anything quite so beautiful ...

‘til next year.