Beauty Smiled

 

Beauty turned her face

And smiled at me

Then quite unexpectedly

Laughed for joy

In the wintry afternoon sun

 

Momentarily alive, the air glows redly

Shadows lengthen as I watch

Evening chill settles

In the shady spot

Between the house and fence

 

Graceful palms, pines

Shivering eucalyptus

Still green while others

Devoid of summer foliage

Budded thinly hinting spring

 

Last year's skeletal leaves remain

Mulching in the dirt,

Process half complete

To turn them back to soil again

Completing the cycle of life.