Rejoice

Photo by Chris Lawton on Unsplash

The leaves linger,
sparse now on tree limbs,
lazy on this summer-like day
in the falling away time.

My tree looks almost dead,
but no, just tired. Its leaves
won't blossom into red
and yellow bouquets.

Beyond are some quite spectacular
maples blooming with death,
gorgeous in orange, gold,
as Autumn chills and kills.

Until we reach December, 
ironically a reason to celebrate 
Solstice, the sun's steadfast climb,
or rather, Earth's orbital tilt
to Spring.