The Twilight Forest

The dim interior of the forever
twilight forest casts an eerie glow
of semi-light and a mood of gloom
might prevail were it not for the
bright, cheery note of a thrush,
comfortable in the landscape it
knows best. Random shafts of
subdued sunlight penetrate now
and again to accentuate the
bright orange of wind-fresh
needles cast from resident spruce,
fir, pine and hemlock, contrasting
the raw green of new foliage
on oak, birch and beech; the
heart-shaped leaves of dogwood
understory. Above the replenished
canopy, a pair of vultures soar
and coast on the bellowing wind,
gathering and directing clouds
toward the encircling mountain
peaks where white plumes of
vapour screen the mountain slopes.