Black Skirt, Black Coat, Black Trailing Scarf

A woman dressed in sober black stepped up off the pavement. Her black heels made a steady clop as she walked now on the bricks. Black skirt, black coat, black trailing scarf - all made her look much older than her diminutive height and rounded face would make her else to seem. Her long dark hair hung in a braid down her back as she climed the granite steps. Then she sat and gazed away from black on this last true autumn day.



A nearby tree had caught her eye and caused her here to pause. The rich brown trunk was well defined by the leaves that above it hung. The muted shades of red and gold looked more like rust and copper. The leaves that had fallen on green grass below were like the remains of fragmented memories.



Further away her gaze did climb to the top of nearby mountains. One terraced peak with rounded crown stood half lost in shadow.




Its nearest neighbor thrust a jagged peak - rocky and somewhat smaller than its brother - into the sky where glorious light fell on it, full engulfing.



Her dazzled mind, for a moment lost in the beauty all around her, rejoiced in this break from dreary black and her too grown-up routines. Even the dark clouds drifting by, like the grayness of her life, could not keep bound the spirit of joy hidden in a black skirt, black coat, and black trailing scarf.