After Mourning

               After Mourning
           (November 6, 2024)

The sun rose this morning
its low light reaching through night's lingering dark
to touch the yellow maple
alone among the trees
still clinging to the joy of autumn
now nearly passed.

The breeze
surprisingly warm   considering
tickles it   its leaves
jiggling as its limbs sway slowly
with something like reserve or perhaps
melancholy...

Soon this tree too will stand
bare against the bitter wind of a winter that
from this last glow of summer
promises to be endless.

The winter's days will be long
and cold and dark
and yet even at their darkest
a flicker   hope
in the comfort of a silent snow
falling   covering   cleansing
and then   grace   brilliant   shining white

in the low light of a persistent sun
that will rise again and again

forever.

Image by Elizabeth Richter