Winter's Spoils

Nature's Annual cycle has run its ordained course
New Spring growth is pruned from straggling limbs
Summer's repast now cankers on vine and limb
Fall foliage a fading shadow rotting into the ground
Winter's, perennial store gilds field, dale, and copse
The Oak and Birch flare their naked spindles;
The Pine and Fir proudly splay their coiffed needles
The meadow grasses shed their emerald gloss for brown rot,
while mosses and ferns spread their jade quilts at barren feet
The Willow furls its pendants at the earliest frost,
but the Spruce eaves still salute the bitterest winds
The sweet scent of Bergamot no longer seasons the air;
The toxic vapors of wild garlic and onions seize the nostrils
The Lilac bushes', purple machete umbrella closes
as the Holly's seeds prepare to burst into a crimson wheel