Communion

Watching the autumn leaves falling anyway
a template turning green to brown
they rain down
on still water

pacing away the evening’s light
soft gray and treading air
the frugal footsteps walking closer to the sloping edge
the edge of light and night hangs off-color

watching the cars thin out and leave
the sun-faded path of concrete
concrete horizon and the hills behind
shade black and offset back into the starry backdrop

pacing with purpose and contemplating the river’s run
swarming swallows darting slip down and skate the rippled reflection
autumn sky, the clear soft gray
and the color falls anyway

watching the current present platitudes flow
a difference in each passing position
the skin-like ebb of water
cold, clear, the mind hesitates

pacing and the slight knit of brow
a slight kick of gravel, though never quite as far as the borderline road
the fence and pheasants crowing to the darkness
hanging back, uneasily in place

watching himself in the night’s reaction
its hesitation to embrace the empty parking lot
the riverbank of driftwood waste
damp and dry earth

pacing with purpose, thinking and reflecting
the quiet reflection moving past, yet constant
and dreamless and the shadowy pattern forming
as autumn leaves fall hovering into place

watching with an inner eye that won’t, can’t be painted on
and feeling the earth stir, the water roll
the evening’s lapse
as if waiting for inspiration.