Homage to the Order of Fall

The coming of fall starts with the breeze of time we left behind
The passing of summer's luxuries and into autumn's decline
The precious days are lost in the fray of the conflicted mind
Proceeding into the cold, nature takes unrelenting control
Over how we spend our days, no longer a life of simple repose
We seek shelter and light, to outlast the night becomes the goal
Leaves, too, succumb to the powers of change as they descend
Once lively and brilliant, now printed in the earth, quiescent
As the spirit of the once proud wilderness slowly begins to bend
The reassurance of the sun now lingers only for an instant
The warmth of life and purpose fade until they are diminished
The stars in the night remind us of their radiance, so distant
The rains fall, intertwined with ice, as the season storms ahead
In calmer days the chance appears to prepare for winter's threat
But guiltless trees are not spared as the freezes leave them dead
Scarcely an animal will risk the stinging bite of autumn's frost
Even a vicious bear will hibernate rather than pay the bitter cost
Strangely, deer, the gentler of the two, won't let himself exhaust
The silence of November mornings, people deterred from the streets
Save for crunching leaves crushed by the ones who choose to proceed
The downcast though, find comfort only beneath their blankets and sheets
Fog fills the air above sidewalks as the passersby cough and sneeze
Infections now traveling eagerly through the unknowing public with ease
Children discover this trouble when fevers are met with shakes in the knees
The season of fall, whose name epitomizes the harshness of its command
Divides the ranks of those who submit and those who adamantly stand
If winter does not take its toll, we hope that spring will lend us its hand