Autumn's final vestige flittering ever mortal,
while barren branches waft in full assent,
what leaves still linger now are lost to winter's portal
and her embracing arms won't soon relent
then spring returns to melt the frozen pale away,
to paint the landscape with a flowering brush,
leaving no reminder of a profile wrapped in gray,
just a splashing vestage left amid the flush
enter summer with its fresh and warm embrace
casting off the vernal remnant of each day,
letting sunlight brightly shine down on each face,
beyond the portal that is lastly gone away
John R Tarter
J