late november airlock
last glints of autumn
fuchsia heads hang limp
like colours run
ruby droplets
caught by westering sun
damp leaf profusion
laurelled seclusion
lawns lurid green
and shadow-splash
by lime sycamore ash
ultimate flourish
stubborn dahlia glare
trim formal bed
odd petals shed
wilted here and there
wood pigeon hid in
boughs burbling on
close within branches
rise and fall
of soft repeated call
pervading stillness
faintest breeze abated
no stir discerned
in spray of fern
time pro tem checkmated
now shade lengthens
stealing over grass
another stem darkens
then bird song stops
so present fades to past
jade cloud vignette
of dimming afternoon
decay decline
inevitable
end not yet – but soon
Ted Eames, 2019