Defoliation, Spoilation

Howling wildly through the forest
canopy, the climate-maddened
wind tears away remaining foliage,
littering the atmosphere with colourful
leaves resentfully leaving the perch
they have clung to, to densely mat
the forest floor. Twigs and branches
that have long hung themselves over
boughs, entangled in dry foliage have
now been persuaded to tumble below.
In thickets of now-barren poplars standing 
on a promontory hulking above an
entrenched beaver colony, the saw-sharp
outlines of teeth nature designed for the
purpose circle stumps whose trunk
corpses straddle the intact branches
of other trees untouched by the 
industrious creatures while countless
others lie akimbo at odd angles
awaiting eventual dismemberment
to line dams and winter forage storage.
Juncos and chickadees nervously flit
through the branches of pine and spruce
defiantly verdant in contrast to the dark
trunks of oak, maple, poplar, bass and
hawthorn surrendering to the monotone
of greys, deprived of their links with
warmth and sun and rain designed to
foster growth in the fullness of the 
forest flora functioning as a haven for
birds and wildlife now withdrawing to
hibernate or migrate to southern climes.