the days shorten as dark umbra extend,
foretelling the struggle of a bitter end

summer waning wearing away,
Halloween ghouls come out to play

molting trees shedding crimson leaves,
cornstalk scarecrows are perches for thieves

crushed pumpkins cover a killing field,
blood-stained Earth must be healed

fleeing fowl flit their feathered escape
ahead of the north wind's howling gape

Grim knifing with its icy claws
entombs with rock-candy all that was

a blanketing tent of suffocating clouds
with darkening screens of snow enshrouds

Earth is terminal these last brief days
longing for the sun with its cheering rays

though health seems hopeless, hoping keep,
for Earth will rouse from its restless sleep