An autumn morning,
golden leaves waves
their palms in the wind.

Layers and layers
of the Blue Ridge Mountains
unfurl like a roller coaster.

Lilac asters dot
the banks of Hyatt Mill Creek,
fog rises like smoke signals

from the Cherokee campfires.
Black birds chatter
in the cornfield,

shocks rattle tambourines,
cattle graze in celery-colored fields,
scarlet leaves twirl across the earth.


© by Brenda Kay Ledford.
Used with the author's permission.