Autumn's Afterglow...

Over the weekend the halfway point of Novembercame and went...and I am trying to content myself with a morewintery pace of life,reveling in the breath-stealing, burgeoning beautyof each season/month. . 'The inhabitants of the city suppose that the country landscape is pleasant only half the year. I please myself with the graces of the winter scenery, and believe that we are as much touched by it as the genial influences of summer! To the attentive eye each moment of the year has its own beauty, and in the same field it beholds every hour a picture which was never seen before and which shall never be seen again.'Ralph  Waldo Emerson Leaf laughter starts to fade but on the frosty air it seemsAn afterglow of gold and jaded auburn tress still gleamsInfiltrating the heart with hues that form a tender swellOf hope to quench lamenting rues where flaming frescos fell Rafters, once rife with rustling hymns yield to the Maestro’s closeLike minstrels etched on welkin scrims, in majestic reposeStark, still-life masterpieces fuel fresh and fervent aweWhere rough and tumble breezes release autumn’s last hurrah Autumn rekindles days of yore as leaf-notes lilt and waftLost childhoods fondly found once more while laughing limbs are doffedWhere the heavens and earth compete, each apt to steal the showIn the fine-mingled bittersweet leaf-laughter’s afterglow Something about the solitude of November ignitesA brooding ballad ‘neath subdued autumnal-hued highlightsWhere no one but God can unfold each season’s ebb and flowOf barren bough to green to gold to autumn’s afterglow Janet Martin