Autumn
translated by Albert Gatt
it could be the leaves
how they shower from the sky how they blanket the ground
how they come down just for you
rain a rain o’ foliage, a refreshing shroud of leaves
how you have nothing but words that speak more leaves
how they shield you how you blow them off how your face is suddenly revealed
how you spit them out of your mouth
there now, take a breath, breathe any way you can
it could be the leaves
your tongue one withered leaf a day
how they can’t get the taste of you
how they overwhelm you
how they fill you up how this is all you have how it’s all yours
the leaves now sodden now dry now
peeping through the window I can’t see you
where have you gone?
take a breath let me catch a slight shift in the leaves
it could be you
how you’re heaping at the pavement’s edge autumn piled up on you
how there’s no other way you could be how it chokes you
it could be
leaves from this autumn and the next
an autumn of leafy blankets
showers coming down on you
how it’s not manna but it’s still coming from the sky
I’m wondering
how you’ll be
once winter edges in