Fallen Leaves

A poem inspired by the time of year is a poem that brings us very near to that which inspires us.

I entered the woods and paused
In autumn trees the poets of October
The opaque fire of fallen leaf
Emeralds bled of blues to pale sulfur
Now dance with mizzle patter
And taunt the gaunt and tease the bare
Too helpless to resist

On cameos of burnished gold
And treetops yellowed by September
Cottonwoods like flowers fade
Deep furrows cut by scarlet plows
The mustangs of a setting sun
Before evening wears her velvet shawl
In quest of winter’s rest

My eyes harvest all the beauty
In the warmth of sun and nip of wind
And dewdrops on persimmons
A sodden moth with wings outspread
Stuck flat on orangey-red
Joins lifeless colors on the ground
Reminders of the dead

Ed Keenan © 11-04

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