NOVEMBER

is the pearl-grey month,

the changeling between warm, crimson, 

October

and cold, white

December.

The month when the leaves fall

in slow drifting whirls

and the shapes of the trees are revealed.

When the earth imperceptibly wakes

and stretches her bare limbs

and displays her 

stubborn, unconquerable strength

before

she settles uneasily into winter.

November is secret and silent.Alison Uttley