Northern beech in late autumn.
"That's no December sky!
Surely 'tis June
Holds now her state on high
Queen of the noon.
Only the tree-tops bare
Crowning the hill,
Clear-cut in perfect air,
Warn us that still
Winter, the aged chief,
Mighty in power,
Exiles the tender leaf,
Exiles the flower."
-- "A December Day,'' by Robert Fuller Murray
