Autumn in the Rockies

All summer I have been promising myself a trip to the tiny mountain town of Silverton, Colorado. It was my reward for various difficult things I've done for many different people over the summer. So now I'm home from my trip to the western slope of the Rockies, and I again have access to the internet. The drive through the mountains was stunningly beautiful but my poor photography skills and poor camera yielded very little of what I saw. So here's my picture.


An ocean of trees curls swiftly skyward.
Wave on wave of daffodil and darkest green
Swirl forward up to crest the heights, or,
Bounded by the red brown wall of rock,
Lie in a shore of color below the soil-less stone.

Dark islands of fire-blasted trunks stand grey amid the tide.
Generations will pass before those pines grow green again,
But already roots curl through the blackened ash as
Aspen saplings, small and brave, spawn treasure-colored leaves.

Mountains tip heavenward only to give way
To taller peaks beyond. And on the trail below
Bright circles float and quiver in the twirling wind,
Golden snowflakes of the fall.