Falling, a Leaf
1
my pen moves
makes breath
visible
as I become
transparent
feed the light
2
everything passes
going
where it’s going
traffic
people
seasons
the earth waits
camouflaged
in beauty
to be fed
3
it takes a lifetime
to accept
the truths our hearts reject
to lose with grace
4
I’ve come to
this celebration
with a gift
a grain of sand
to irk and delight
oysters
5
my vision
narrows
I see a burst
of flowers
white purple fuchsia
and a sparrow
6
two weeks ago
a woman I knew
died
she was gifted and strong
bursting with life
unlived
her flesh betrayed her
like an avalanche
7
this is where
I am
I claim this place
I am as artful
as a grain of sand
ripening into
a dark and bulbous pearl
8
the moment
flutters
on my breath
a tiny dancer
a tinsel rose
that was a ballerina
9
two women are drinking coffee
speaking French
beside them
chin on paws
a fat dog waits
someone’s provided him
with a dish of water
drowsing
he hears their voices
he is content
10
I watch the dog
he is old
and unattractive
large patches
of brown
on his pale back
a thick belly
he sees me watching
his stub of a tail
wags
11
something is happening
between us
an awareness
he and I
have arrived
at the same place
12
honesty
pushes outwards
a child
begging
to be born
innocent
yet already cruel
already capable
of wounding
13
age has
flavours
subtle as the shadows
flowers cast
14
at my feet
a small circle of light
I step aside
cast my shade
elsewhere
15
I lay words down
in layers
bone
on bone
a stack
of burials
in a crowded
graveyard
16
meaning
meaning
meaning
meaning
meaning
words cut adrift
from sense
make children sputter
with laughter
17
in time
the journey becomes
simple
no longer
climbing
no longer looking
skywards
no longer
grasping at twigs
finding footholds
on the downward slope
the journey becomes
effortless
18
falling
a leaf
has no wings
no rudder
of a tail
no aspirations
to grace
allowing the wind
to twist it
this way and that
giving its body
to the dance
a leaf is
fearless