Change and Decay In All Around I See

Autumn, with its golden wheatfields,
Streets full of dead leaves and whorled chestnuts,
Sunshine straining to pierce the mists,
Is the most lichen-like of the four seasons.

Winter creates a bitter land,
A cold white unforgiving territory
Bestowing life at Christmas, death in the frosts.
Savage and beautiful, a respected enemy.

Spring revives with the kiss of life
Frozen, unfeeling ground into new sprouting:
Austere and forbidding grey softens into green,
Rain gently restoring colour to the warming land.

Summer brings the full blossoming,
The slow hazy humming of the bumble bees
Drinking the heavy dusky nectar of the pollen,
Crimson petals scattering at an August wedding.