Autumn Wonder

Autumn Wonder

My blush is of Autumn, fair full of fire

With passion's intent flaming ardor's desire

Such love’s fully ripe, less shame or regret

As lustrous and golden as an Autumn sunset

While passions of spring run urgent and rushed

A love in life’s Autumn waxes burnished and lush

For vanities cares in Autumn have passed

The soul feels all rapture, its splendor outlasts

The memories of pain, of struggle and care

A now distant image, the soul's been laid bare

The last love the richest, the deepest, the highest

As the heart opens up to receive Autumn's finest

Passion’s last bonfire with flames of such heat

That blaze with rare beauty, love's fulfillment complete.

As the limbs become gnarled and the tree laid bare,

So the body will age, its raiment not spared.

Yet in deepest winter as the twilight approaches

The soul will remember with joy, no reproaches

The memory of Autumns’ incomparable love

As the soul is lifted to a place far above

Where time is a memory and age unimportant,

Rejoined with all loves, yet the best of them,

Autumn.

Leslie Ann Perkel