Summer Closing

Nature has drawn the shade
of evening daylight to
introduce a steadily waning
day as summer begins its
benighted journey toward
fall and the sun eclipses
beyond the day's landscape.
Forest fungi celebrate in
autumn hues of purple, white,
orange and mortuary blues
as lichens accelerate their
shelf life on the corpses of
once thriving trees. Rain 
visits in more robust events
and the odour of must and
decay pervade the forest as it 
sighs in the prevailing winds,
bidding adieu to all its
migrating guests and settles
down as the local innkeeper
of these natural precincts,
to prepare for winter's advent.