Nature's Gold

Today, I wandered around Smith Farm and looked at leaves. Mother Nature did a pretty good job with the leaves, didn't she?

A few trees had red leaves, and there were some brown ones, too. 

Most of the trees, however, sported golden leaves.

Seeing so many golden leaves reminds me of the first and last stanza of "Gold Leaves," by G.K. Chesterton:

Lo! I am come to autumn,

When all the leaves are gold; 

Grey hairs and golden leaves cry out

The year and I are old.

...

In youth I sought the golden flower

Hidden in wood or wold,

But I am come to autumn,

When all the leaves are gold.

But, according to Robert Frost, "Nothing Gold Can Stay":

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

In a few weeks, the trees will be bare. Nothing gold can stay.

But I'll enjoy the leaves while I can.

~