I wish the maples would always be this color - a rich yellow
with twinges of orange.
The green berries of the bittersweet
have turned yellow with cherry-red centers
The sweetgum with its star shaped leaves
glows in shades of yellow, red and orange.
The pink "Knock-Out" roses continue to bloom
despite a hard frost.
I like to stand beneath the towering maples
and look up into their golden expanse.
As a child,
I used to collect and press the colorful fall leaves
in the leaves of heavy books; to visit them
in the winter or whenever my heart
wished to return to that moment in time.
