Winter Walk

I took a walk yesterday, seeking beauty in the brown world of winter. I found it.

Palettes of color, form, and texture behind a scrim of tree trunks

Beds of moss with a hairy covering of sporophytes

Gill o' the Ground under the protection of fall leaves

LeRoy followed me like a dog.

And clawed his way up my leg like a cat.

Blooms of blue-green lichen on rotting branches

Perfect dinner-plates eaten out of oak leaves

Remember this goldenrod from a post last summer?

It is just as beautiful now

Along with the milkweed seeds

All glowing in the slant of late afternoon winter light, warming towards spring