...and as the summer slips into the frost,
the leaves feel the change
and lose (not gain) one color to become another.
They are compelled by the changing time to thin
and flatten and flare
brilliant in the cold sun
and as they finally lose their grip
(the thin,
the brilliant,
the beautiful,
the dead) we smile
and say "how beautiful" at the colors thus revealed.

�1999 Bernadette Yarnot