Red autumn leaves
Rushed by the wind
Tossed, curled and whirled
Above life’s ordinance
Inevitable
The belly-lifting drop
Ineluctable spiral
Down, down to death.
Red autumn leaves
Rushed by the wind
Tossed, curled and whirled
Above life’s ordinance
Inevitable
The belly-lifting drop
Ineluctable spiral
Down, down to death.
My eyes are filled with trees of gold
With shining, rippling water
A vibrant view that pleases all my senses
Here, I am alive, almost euphoric
Breathing . . .
Hey! You on the path –
Can you get me wellingtons?
My feet are freezin’.
In the darkened room
Dim lamps and candles flare
It’s time –
Push back the chairs
Leave room for all the souls
Abroad tonight to mingle and remember
Set out the meats and bread
Uncap the warming drink
Nostalgia fills the cups
They whisper tales of youth
Thin voices rustling
Around the laden table
The living leap the fires
Gather nuts and fruit and
Mirror-gaze to see the future
Bright ring of day approaches
Reluctant, trailing wraiths
Rise and fade like smoke
While weary mortals sleep.
Every year at this time I quote this poem to anyone who will listen to me. I learned it off by heart at school when I was sixteen and still remember most of it. And this is my old school book – A Pageant of English Verse. The poem is quite perfect. I’ll just quote a few verses here, to give you a flavour of it – it’s very long in its entirety.
O wild west wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,
Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,
Pestilence-stricken multudes – O thou
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed
The winged seeds . . .
As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.
Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!
I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!
Be through my lips to unawakened earth
The trumpet of a prophecy! O, wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
Soft, warm Autumn breeze
blows among bright yellow leaves
readies them for death.
Ivy-covered steps
silent, peaceful place above
sunlight filters through.
Red autumn leaves
Rushed by the wind
Tossed, curled and whirled
Above life’s ordinance
Inevitable
The belly-lifting drop
Ineluctable spiral
Down, down to death.
Magpies black and white,
machine gun clatter chatter,
strut across the grass.