Ephemeral Echoes

Hills lit golden in the valley of fog 

It creeps and envelops 

Heavy moisture weighing down 

To cover folds of the earth like a blanket 

Blurring shapes in a dim world 

Tall evergreens reach through the watered haze 

Asserting their proud presence 

Bright sparks of life in a half-faded world 

Watercolored picture of beauty 

The dying wildflowers descend into the grass 

Sink through the dark rich soil 

Dampness holding down the sunlight 

Breath barely exists in this place 

Everything is still 

Waning remnants of last night’s moonlight 

Sunrise, small haloed orb of paleness in the clouded sky 

Like the mirror of a frozen moon 

Ice turns to an orange jewel 

Piercing light burning away the cold left behind by the receding night 

Sky lightening and dimming fog lifting 

Breeze blows back the lingering whispers of mist 

Wandering through the woods 

Each careful step through the brilliant carpet of leaves 

Sunlight and deep purples snuggling crimson and sunset 

Marigold orange and goldenrod yellow 

The forest hums with life 

Filled with energy of the season’s change 

Squirrels skitter to hide acorns 

Before they become shrouded with snow 

Moles burrow their meandering tunnels 

Before the earth freezes and the soil stills 

A lifting melody floats on the air 

Humming runs and trills 

Harmonizing with the birdsong 

Tree branches reach down to tap gently against the mossy rocks 

Loving voices clear and sweet 

Haunted with wonder 

A beautiful chorus of shifting colors 

Moving beings, all in reverie 

Changing palette of shadows and light 

Longing hangs in the stillness 

Between 

The whispers of tree branches 

Ephemeral echoes of seasons 

Flicker through moss-laden boughs 

A glimmering dance of dewdrops caught in spider’s lace 

Pause for a moment and watch 

As time unravels towards the new 

The forest waves in greeting 

Gracious curls of ferns 

Gentle 

Vibrancy fading 

But life still hidden between 

Swirling spirals 

Blackberry brambles ripe to bursting 

Purple twilight plumpness that stain your fingers 

The mountaintops shade to reddened sumac 

Craggy peaks dotted with rowanberries 

Air crisp and thick with fog and frost 

The cold hesitates, lying in wait 

The freeze hovers just on the other side of this warm spell 

Ready to replace humid sun with the heat of a blazing woodstove 

Black bear mama and her cubs amble across the fields towards hibernation 

The river winds around bends, up and over the hills and through the valleys 

Soon shards of ice will flow over its banks 

Edges turning opaque 

In that frozen stillness of a world 

Sparkling snow over the wise gray boulders 

Hearts of stone and ice under the slushing water 

But now 

The river runs clear and smooth 

Rocks pulsing in heartbeat to keep the warmth close 

For just a little longer 

Before the watery chill rises off the foggy banks