Autumn Arras

Clear as the morning dew
and sharp as daybreak's chill
a bluejay's call rings piercing
and true through the fall woods
as a lazy breeze detaches
a rainbow of foliage 
from maples, poplars, birch
and hackberry. Lone bees still
sporadically nuzzle into
sprays of goldenrod and
purple asters. In the shallows
of the forest a stream plods
its route on the geology of the
forest to find its home in a
near-distant river. Bracken
on the forest floor yellows
day by day, subsumed by the
soil. And fungi shapely and
colour-shaded vie with
newly-revealed club mosses
for their place in the
seasonal evolution before
winter's inevitable presence.