Dust and Leaves

Arise in bluster, furious, and gay
The hand of an autumn gust uplift

Go forth strong with stern resolve
Though leaves fall quickly scratching in a fray

See clearly as you pass the branches bare
The stark, glorious and unyielding light of day

Run! And catch the scent before it strays
Of burning sticks on chill wind sweeping

Tumble over cold earth, and roots dry as bone
Hard hands work swift over wet stones

Breath caught on pricker bushes, whose berries red
Stand out against a glimpse of melted snow

Hands trail on ends of long, gray grass
Look up, while the clouds may yet pass slow

Feet brush on dirt, gone to seed at long last
The ground folds before a steep and shadowed slope

The sun peeks out from beneath an amber cast
And down, there lies a distant river bed

A hue of silver shallow far away
Where I once played as a lass

Come to rest, and lift a weary gaze into the sky
Raise dirty hands before this face, too tired to cry

Let this be the end of walking, over rough hillside
And let us adjourn heartfelt, sleepily, with pride

To return with waking, on the morrow
And again, perhaps more final, when I die