AUTUMN ARRIVED

Autumn arrived with the crunching of frost
Under my step on a recent windswept morning.
There was a refreshing crispness to the air,
As the scent of pine smoke wafted skyward,
From the chimneys that line this tranquil valley.
With a sigh of frosty vapor I breathed away
With great reluctance, the last remnants of summer.

I beheld a solitary tired, tattered leaf,
From a majestic maple, now turned brown,
Float gently down to the river before me,
To begin a journey of untold miles,
Past stately covered bridges,
Past rambling rumbling waterfalls,
Past woodlands and thickets
Of fiery red, brilliant yellow and flaming orange.

Through many a quaint New England town
It will wind its way, where it will be joined
By others that have relinquished their grasps
On the mighty branches that arch this river,
To escort my lonesome wandering leaf
In a silent processional to the roaring sea.