My bones are aching,

but my brain awakes,

a magpie shouts, his clatter and splutter.

‘Here is where we belong’, is his song,

‘We don’t take flight,

we brave it out,

against the weather.’

A leaf drops quietly, falling

to its extinction, life played out

with unfussy distinction.

A web flutters, like intricate lace

on the ground below,

as autumn evaporates through the air,

misty and long-suffering.

Everything packing up

for this season, dormice and squirrels frantically storing.

It feels like time is disintegrating,

speeding up then slowing down,

enveloping - cocooning gifts,

until the joy of spring returns.