As I sit by this bay window, and watch the last leaves tumble down
A sugar maple in my backyard is about to shed her gown
North wind it’s whipping through the clearing, red sequins flutter in the air
But the fact she’s soon to be stark naked doesn’t seem to float a care
And so I’m taken by this beauty
Her standing tall and bold and bare
As though she’s saying…C’mon, bring it on, cold night air
Somehow it seems a tad ironic, her going naked toward the night
As if it’d make more sense to cloak her in warm armor for that fight
But that’s the part of me that figures, the part that’ll never see the whole
The part that speculates and conjures as it grapples for control
Chorus…
There’s something she gets that I’ll never, begin to understand or grasp
She feels no fear of what lies ahead nor is troubled by what’s past
Instead she strips her outer garments, and shows the world her inner frame
And there is nothing on her branches that resembles any shame
Chorus…
I see more shades of grey this autumn, there’re possibilities galore
The mix of dark and light that speaks to me truth, not less but more
The grey I used to know, it stifled, devoid of feeling, nothing hurt
I kept the cold and dark at bay wrapped in my devil-red nightshirt
Chorus…
And so I see you, sugar maple, fro what you truly are, exposed
You are the guardian of my backyard when I’ve thrown away my clothes
You are the pillar of my landscape, you urge me where I dare not go
And where you lead me I will follow with suspended need to know
Because I’m taken by your beauty
Your standing tall and bold and bare
I hear you saying…C’mon, bring it on, cold night air…