Hope's Seasons

Twas truly a wondrous thing whilst in full bloom,
But Autumn came suddenly and cast the bright colors in a bittersweet glow, making me both more aware and appreciative and also quite sad to see the beginnings of the endings....I sat back in quiet contemplation of my joys and sorrows, they passing by with each falling petal and leaf...savoring the days that came as though twere almost summer again, only to be reminded when the silent dark fell that each grew shorter, marking the steady declination of warmth and light...the birds flew and there was a stirring on the wind, bringing with it a sharp crispness...I looked about me and found the entire, for a brief moment, in all it's blazing perfection, drinking it in deeply with all my senses, hoarding it against the coming nightfall, thinking against all logic that surely such fineness must be imperishable...then the wind bit at me, cold and harsh, forcing me to accept the inevitable and I turned away, seeking shelter from the impending storm...upon awakening, I found my paradise stark and still, blanketed in silence and colorless but for the frozen crystals that had seemingly trapped small fragments of the former radiance that had once abided there, refracting the thin and weakened light in icy brilliance, painful to gaze upon directly....I close my eyes slowly against the agonizing glints, slipping away to my hidden cache of perfection, lingering over it tenderly and with a loving approach, then, with a soft sigh, putting it away and allowing Winter to to take hold in my mind's eye, leaving all fallow, turning instead to thoughts of Spring as I draw my shawl about me tightly and dream......