Red Leaves Poem by Paul Reed

The leaves have turned to flame red
Wishes have become defeats
Over now, withered and aged,
Bright eyes peer dulled
Through a pall of smoke
Where once the fire raged;

We run on the spot
No longer bound forward
With stride as light as air;
What we once took for granted
Didn’t even look for,
Is no longer there;

The sunny curving pathways
Between the trees
Lie littered with broken dreams;
Now a straight descent
At unrelenting pace
Tumbling down the mountain streams