Yellow Ashes

The bright beauty of yellow ashes
Reaches me from the burning black
As the descent of winter overcomes
Cooling the flames on the pavement
Smothering the blistering waves
Evaporating their whisperings
Into the intense flame –

The flame just before the death of season
Which flickers in an autumn blaze
Of desperate colors seeking
And finding only the burning black
Which returns its heat at last
Fuming forth the spews of summer
Into the flighty air –

The air forecasts the development of storm
Bringing with it the death of fury
Which ignites the blazes
Flickering fire into combustion
With the apathy of trunks
Remaining untouched by the death
Which surrounds them –

As much as it surrounds us all the same
This fire which destroys the exterior
Bringing with it the inevitable
The winter that descends on all
Unconditionally, winter must come
And winter is the source of all
The cold most needed –

A breath of cold is the inhale of life
A paradox unfolded in nature
As is necessary to all
It is necessary to one
That cold consume so that warm
May take control once more
A pause before the return –

The return that strikes up to process of death
Which brings sadness once more
A sadness so deep it cannot be seen
That thing within each tree
Which realizes its own demise
Even before truly existing the heat comes
The heat comes always –

The heat always comes to ignite once more
And the passion of fire cannot be tempered
Save by the cold, which shall not come
Until the black is burning
And the leaves are blazing
And all hope is lost.
Then it comes.

The fire always burns brightest before it goes out, though it may not seem so.

This poem goes out to my sister for the inspiration she gave me.