Fall Colors

Autumn tones of browns and yellows,
The orange of Jack-O-Lanterns,
Front porch games, connect the dots,
In match strikes of scattered light.

Pinks and blues of birthday cakes,
Merry-go-rounds of sweets,
Peeking through kitchen windows,
With squinty eyes into the dark.

Greens grow out of gray rains,
Tall trees become a forest,
Wind rolling across their tops,
Cutting like an old push mower.

Push mowers have stories, you know,
Sheds of red hat gnomes and rat crap,
Of shearing off toes that get in the way,
Found later by children out playing.

All are called to the colors of Fall,
The gawkers, walkers, and talkers,
Who steal all these colors,
Like old age criminals, which they are.