Mark R Slaughter (1957)

Splash red -
A rush of autumn leaves that
Bled away their beauty as they
Died upon the breeze.

Frost.
Leaves lost.

Stocky frames -
Thinning at the dendrites -
Animate their colour under dusk:
A paling brown,
Emerging grey -
Deeper, darker -
Leads to black:
Silhouettes braced for winter,
Like monuments of hardiness
Against the freeze.

Barely hanging overhead, charcoal-grey chassis
Buckle under silent flow of ever-stacking billows

While stings in the face foretell the ice-blight.

An arrow-bound wind builds,
Penetrating flesh,
Whistling out its warning
To the nakedness of winter woods -
Fair-weather green coats too fickle for the stay.

Summer died upon another eon.
Autumn scampered from the chill.

But the trees fought back; upheld their dignity -
No fuss, pomp, or thrill.



Copyright © Mark R Slaughter 2010










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