the colours of fall

The colours of fall

Burst through the grey

In the sudden shaft of light

Impossibly there

Between blackening clouds

Somehow torn apart above.

Like the last flare of flame

From the final embers

Of a dying fire.

Defying futility,

A gift of beauty

Before all was gone.

A moment of hope

Too real to be false,

A memory to cling to

In the cold dark of winter