feuille-morte
my entry for the "Falling Leaves" challenge #3
By Imola TóthPublished 4 months ago • 1 min read
Photo by Joshua Woroniecki on Unsplash
slow rot drifts down, as
memories of summer fade
lurid wistfulness
~~~

I thought the ghastly history of the word "lurid" makes it a fitting adjective for this haiku and also a great word for describing the color of the dying leaves. The word comes from the Latin 'luridus', which was used in the 17th century to describe the pale yellowish color of diseased or bruised skin.
"Feuille-morte" is a French expression, that literary translates to 'dead leaf'. As a color, it describes a dark and deep brownish orange.

Comments (7)
I love your unique perspective on the prompt. Definitely a different direction than many others are taking. I love it.
I love your haiku! It somehow stays with you like a song that's stuck in your head. Especially the last line. 🍂
This is beautifully haunting.
Oooo, I love the way you referred to those leaves as slow rot. And wow, I never knew of lurid's backstory. Loved your Haiku!
Love it. Like the morbid tone too
A negative perspective of autumn, yet definitely unique. I love it!
Kind of a depressing little haiku, but true to fact. What a great French/English vocabulary lesson to boot. Good job.