C E Thomas

The Death of Summer

I smile to see a summer tree
With leaves vibrant and new,
But cannot help be saddened by
The winter\'s darkened hue
That takes the summer\'s joy at life,
And steals its beauty, too,
And strips the colour from the sky,
And laughs at summer\'s tune;

A song of never-ending green -
Eternal life renewed -
A lie, an epic tale it tells
That winter, cold, eschews,
And bitterly, without a thought,
Casts away the blue
That filled the sky - just days ago! -
In which the songbirds flew.

But every now and then I glance
At branches void of fruit -
Of leaves, of life - coldly clawing
At the sky (no blue
Remains - just grey) but still, somehow,
Find beauty in those shoots.
The trick, I think,\'s to find the joy
In warmth, and winter too.