Autumn Picture Leaves
by Ele Nash, 17 November 1996
Don't turn me green
with talk of chlorophyll
and expect me to say
hard words like their memory
carotenoids
to explain why leaves
turn color
on cool autumn days.
Jack Frost stories
may be okay for kids
but
the Fall I know comes
scattered, face up
on the ground
as forgotten photographs
the trees have taken
of summer Sun:
morning butter rounds
of aspen
intense yellow noon triangles
of ginkgo and birch
late afternoon lemon fans
of chestnut
bonfire ribbons of sumac
bronze sunset oaks
so that when I walk
on grim, gray-fog November days
the trees give back
of soak-in sunshine
and honey-hued skies,
slow-exposure pictures
taken from their
ancient, woodland
bleacher seats
to keep alive
the promise
of light.
Ele Nash
Music Director