Autumn into Winter – a poem

Pale cornstalks blow and swirl within the breeze:
all golden light – tall, tickling, synchronized.
Their shape now dry and stiff with ebbing life;
rough whispers rise and fall in symphony.
They dance the dying days of autumn’s leave,
requiring heavy, solemn exercise
of tempered motion.  They too realize
their dance will end with seasonal release.
Chill winter soon will fall upon the land:
strip bare the trees in harsh, unyielding wind;
defeat fluidity in stiff-stopped ice;
constrict deep earth’s warm roots in frigid hand;
and force all things to fearfully rescind
all stubborn claims to motion, light, and life.

31 December 2001