Autumn transformation

Proud and tall stood the trees
crowned with a bonnet made of leaves
expressing themselves in hues of green.
Large and small, broad and lean,
rustling gently in the breeze, or rather
are they really talking to each other?

What stories they must have of things they've seen
Some happy and many sad, you know what I mean.
Lovers who embraced and kissed and made up,
dogs coming close and relieving with a leg up,
a tramp who sought shelter in a storm,
maybe a murder unsolved or a secret in some form

Gnarled trunks tracing up a tortuous track
Branches at intervals stack
They branch again and again and again
Seeking something elusive in vain?
Freedom not for them, tethered to Mother Trunk firmly
for escape means a crashing death most certainly

The leaves, through the summer glorious and green
And now unrestrained freedom to change, so keen
Shades of brown, orange, red and yellow,
beautiful and joyous, and yet so mellow
Alas, the exuberance does not last
they all fall, one by one, as they wither fast

A graveyard of dead leaves, the ground heaves.
Disturbed by winds that blow, scattering the leaves
More and more shy branches lose their modesty
They seem lost, exposed and testy
Patience! Have heart and good cheer
Just wait till spring and new leaves will appear

And so it goes on, year after year
The cycle of change, replenishment, so don't shed a tear.