When the wind drives away the last of the summer,

When the rain ceases to tingle and begins to sting,

When the nights feel black and hollow,

No more dancing away the longest days,

When natures many colours fall to the sodden floor,

Dissolving into earth and dirt.

The moment has come to embrace the cold,

Where once the body wrapped itself in light and heat,

Now the seasons touch aches deep in joints and bones,

Not yet the sharp diamond light of sun on snow,

Stained glass patterns flashing between black lined hedgerows.

The greening has gone,

Verdant life bent and browned,

Dripping as if the life blood of the world is seeping from the sky,

Dying slowly in the damp,

Waiting for the sleep to come.