Stacey Dye

The neighbor’s cat searches for a patch of warmth
as the thermometer strains to reach sixty degrees
on this crisp autumn day.

He finds it in a sunbeam next to my house
and becomes an orange knot
lost in a pile of leaves.

The trees are turning and the dogwoods
are ablaze. Brilliant red and golden,
they move slightly in the breeze.

It won’t be long before they’re bare--
only globs of burnished detritus
on the ground below.

Orange cat is oblivious to the change in seasons.
He’s belly up now, lost in a mosaic of leaves
basking in the sun.