AUTUMN'S CHILD

Leafless hollows shaped this

child, her lightless lure

born of sere woodlands and

shrivelled anemones 

beneath blooming grey skies,

baptised amid frosty violet winds. 

Her chill green irises shunned

the gay brightness of

Spring's blossoming, favouring

mazy spreads and 

veiled moonlight, the quieter

shine of twilight and

ice blue waters.

Armfuls of gloom she gathered

unto her as an infant

her first wildflowers. As a cold

island she stood amid

June's sun-drenched spaces, 

as though fettered to Mother's

wails, to Her lament.

Through the seasons she lurched,

as though bound to an unseen 

force that seemed

to reach from Earth's 

bleached bones, drawing her 

to the penumbral frontier her heart

alone sought to erase 

from memory.

Black shivers and roots she prised

from all she touched with

eyes and hands, with words and

rare smiles, her spirit's unspoken

mission defining her

aspect and gait, tinting her every

hour, her work and repose.

Into the realm of eternal Shadows

she stepped, 

this youthful deliverer,

upon its threshold to lay her

Harvest of Darkness.

Autumn's child

now lies upon Summer's bosom,

for the gates of Light alone

yield to all beauty.

© 2015 Lily's Verse

Lilium Candidum

Image: Cèleste

Source: www pinterest com

Artist: Herbert Gustave Schmalz