Florida Seasons Poem by Barry Middleton

They say that Florida
has no change of seasons,
but mid September,
in a good year,
the noonday high
drops to the eighties
as the sun falls
low in the west,
the hint of relief
tints the thinner air
with cooler blue tones.
Already the bloom stalks
of the Queen palms
are dropping their gold
as a preface to fruiting.
By October the raintrees
are a saffron riot of flower,
November brings russet pods
that rattle in a cooler breeze
before their final show
of brightest yellow leaves.
Still a while before the frost
turns Florida Maple to burgundy,
Virginia Creeper and poison Ivy
will decorate the Lives Oaks
with crimson streaming garland.
In the swampland in December,
Bald Cypress drop their needles
and an ocher carpet
softens the stealth
of the hunter's footstep.
Christmas brings red berries
of the Florida hollies
and Brazilian Pepper trees.
The sky is bluer now,
the air is dryer.
Crape Myrtle and Sweetgum
will have their show
in red and bronze.
Fall is subtle in Florida,
winter is a few cold nights,
but Florida has its seasons
till the Live Oaks dust
the streets with green
in the bone dry
fire season of Spring.