Autumn Stillness The autumn woods abound with stillness When it is calm, without the wind It permeates the hills and barrens The only sound, a squirrel, then; So still and silent, one can hear A single leaf fall to the ground To join its kinfolks who just earlier In the last gale had blown around And so now it becomes acquainted With the ones who dropped before To add to the golden carpet Lying on the forest floor In late autumn in the woodlands The sounds of summer have all gone The silence is felt so intensely Loons have left the woodland ponds Stark bare branches of the aspen And the birch against the sky That is often grey and cloudy Point to the winter by and by The calmness of the autumn morning Instills some feeling deep within A longing for something uncertain Akin to lonely for what has been The autumn breezes blow the golden Leaves around the cabin door Just like they made a golden pathway That leads across the forest floor The woodpile has a golden cover That soon will be replaced by white As time heads down towards the solstice And days are shorter than the nights With the winter days upon us A different feeling will abound One now free from that of lonely With winter sights and winter sounds   Submitted By: wayne taylor