Glowing of the Leaves

[Robert Stephen Herrick]

Glowing of the Leaves
By Robert Stephen Herrick

Hear the rustling of the cool wind
as it passes around the boughs
and branches holding up the leaves
to soon loosen away and be caught
by the colder breezes to be scattered.

See the solid trunks of the trees
holding up branches and boughs
and view the hues colored by
cold frosts and from green to gold
to brown and red the leaves glow.

Smell the crisp coolness in the air
and catch the scents of the cooling earth
slowly hardening and softer in scent
than weeks before and no longer as ripened
under the summer mists as it thins in the air.

Taste the chill in the back of your throat
as you breath in from the wind and breezes
and the clean and crisp air passes briskly
down into your mouth and slightly stings
your palate and tongue and teeth.

Feel the fading warmth of a leaf in your hand
and sense it glow stiff and brittle to the touch
as its life is done and the breeze fading
from the warmth of a touch wants to carry it on
all to be for the glowing of the leaves.