With brevity, She arrives, as Summer departs.

Her chilly fingers caress tremulous trees,

summoning woolly snakes to encircle shivery throats

and turtlenecks to engulf rose-flushed faces-

whose blushes clash with their frigid paleness.

Fingers disappear in fabricated burrows like rabbits

and pockets stuff themselves with hands as chipmunks

overindulge their mouths.

Swelling the cucurbits and polishing hazelnut shells,

She blesses the awaiting harvest.

Chartreuse apples are painted glossy crimson,

persimmons burden their branches with their plump bodies.

and fields of wheat sigh as the wind carries

pervasive aromas of

pumpkin spice, sweet cinnamon, and fresh petrichor

in the crisp atmosphere.

When the sky transmutes in hue,

Sunlight slips from Her grasp. She

tucks the world in starry covers ere long its nightly curfew

and Her brisk breath whistles a lullaby,

gently tapping delicate windows-

beckoning the leaves to flutter down from their perch.

They capriciously dance to the ground in

their diaphanous dresses of

red and gold;

twirling,

swooping,

falling into a deep sleep

soon to be blanketed by

niveous fleeces.