They change colour

before your eyes,

shake complacency –

steppe, pampa, savanna –

the ramblers’ short cut

with meadowsweet,

ox-eye daisies, foxgloves

moor, heath, sward.

Paddock, pasture, lea

shelve the harvest,

court their own silence

tether the seasons,

take the elements on trust,

hold the story of bird and tree.