What begins in gentle germ,
A twisted embryo cocooned,
A lost one in cave marooned,
Chlorophyll bairn 'ere to term,
To the song of the sun attuned,
A fragile bud — then ballooned,
In unfurling, extending squirm,
Is born.
And in the sun and breeze and dew,
Such endless dabs of brushes green,
Branches paint lattice canvas scene,
In endless flutter, an endless queue,
Inweaves cool verdant canopy screen,
Shading beast, bug, any who convene,
All that must the August sun eschew,
Safely sorn.
Autumn's cooling foreshortened days,
Fields will gold and breeze will zephyr,
And the foliole will dance tarentellar,
'Til waning in vibrant beautiful malaise,
In reds, golds, browns, pitch then propeller,
In luminous cascades. Once a tree dweller,
The sod adorn.
Blowing and crinkling in around our feet,
Crisping stockpiles cushion child-play,
Till from their veins fleshy cells decay,
In sallow dust petals ground into the peat,
The empty bramble mourn in shades of gray,
Yet drink the dust that will one day defray,
The leaf reborn.
