North Country explorer from Warren, Vermont
Come forth, children of the shadows!/ Stake your claim on cool earth./ With artist's brush/ take the browning leaves and yellowed grass as your canvas./ With jeweler's precision/ cut diamonds of air/ and dust them on your latest creation./ Truly,/ yours is the most ephemeral of masterpieces,/ crumpled easily underfoot,/ gone by the noonday sun./ Yet each night is another chance to perform magic,/ to sugar-coat the ugliest of stumps with majesty./ Let silence be your working-song/ as your steady hand issues in the transition/ from nuts and berries/ to icicles and fat snowflakes./ But enjoy this season,/ kin of Jack,/ for each day is an opportunity to dazzle and amaze.