Leaves Crunch

[Achebe]

Hello Todd - nice to see something from you after a while. My thoughts below:

yellow wood 
frost-kissed .... a bit cliched
barren trees ....to me, this doesn't sit well with a 'yellow wood', which is slightly earlier in the season
hands reaching ... the juxtaposition of a tree's bare branches with hands is quite old
no longer time
for green steps ... not quite sure what this means, but the sudden detour from plain observation doesn't appeal to me
leaves sting 
wind-whipped ...the above line and this are, for me, the most beautiful parts of the poem
on this trail
of dying
blossoms ....blossoms are already pretty much dead by the end of summer, and I don't know if there are any left by the time the woods are yellow, but there could be regional variations in different parts of the world and I might be wrong.

I wonder if you might not have a nice little short poem on your hands with just: 

yellow wood

leaves sting 
wind-whipped
on this trail of dying blossoms