Autumn in Arizona

Cottonwood trees, decorated with shimmering gold leaves,
scattered along the river banks.
Free-wheeling tumbleweeds dancing across the desert.
Rabbits, noses quivering, prick ears and stand on hind legs,
scenting the blasts of frosty wind.
One lone hawk sails aloft, gaze locked, finds, falls,
soars back into the sky... a fresh kill dangling from
bloody claws

Dust devils,
swirling in fanciful patterns across the basin floor,
scatter puffs of fine sand into the air
and draw snake-like lines
behind them.

Autumn —
the shifting of the seasons,
full of light
and color
and chill —
has come to Arizona.