Lone leaf in the wind
Gentle spiral come to rest
Worn down underfoot

Autumn came quickly this year.
The skies tinted themselves gray.
The children were suddenly
under three layers of clothing.
I noticed I drank hot tea
instead of iced coffee.
My summer dresses
were replaced by my favorite
grubby sweaters.
Scarves flew in formation
to guard my neck from the cold air.
My music playlist went
from rock and roll
to acoustic.
I promised this autumn,
sadness will not strike.
I promised to leave
summer paralysis
back on the beach.
I was not to fall off
like the yellow leaves
from the oak outside my dorm.
You met me on my way to lecture.
You were cowarding
under three layers of clothing,
eyes tinted gray.
You were giving off
the scent of exhaustion.
You said I looked as if I were out to conquer the world.
You said I was armed with my algebra textbook.
I said you looked in harmony with the weather.
You laughed.
I believe you meant to stab me with that laugh.
To remind me how in August
your blue eyes did not want me.
But it's October.
And I'm detached from the thirst for you.
Autumn came so quickly this year
it made you irrelevant.
October turned your blue eyes
a negligible splash of gray,
made you fall off
like a yellow leaf
from the oak outside my dorm,
blurred you with the backdrop.
Autumn came so quickly,
October painted my green summer eyes
a fiesty, burning yellow,
a flame in contrast to the tinted sky,
made my footsteps soothing
like an acoustic guitar,
made my lips taste like hot tea in my own mouth.

When he falls...
Alone...
Lonely.....
He never hated the wind...
Who dropped it....

When all the trees are but
                  paper notes in a vault.

What will be the riches of man.

Where shall he beg for one more leaf.

Shall he look hollow when he cries
              gasping for breaths of regret..

1.
There was the tremor of leaves,
a rustle of bayonet grass
parried the multihued calm
of dawn's smeared light.
"This is what we trained for," the captain said.
We hunkered behind stacked bags of sand.

2.
Filigreed shafts of light pierce
the bullet perforated leaf canopy,
bellowed yells punctuate the swirl
and buffet of turbulent air:
“Contact”,  “2 O’Clock”, “Incoming”, “
"Moving”, “Reloading”, “Ammo”.

3.
Fingers twitch, the grit of soil
twisted through their grip;
moon slashed carcasses glint, spent shells,
Earth exhales a vermillion mist,
rising, echoless, in this cathedral of leaves.

When leaves are left on the sidewalk
the sun cooks their image into the concrete
so when the foliage is kicked up
their baked imprint remains

In reality it’s the pavement that’s changing
while the leaf shape is safe from the heat
creating a brief haven for feet

Summer rain,
mesmerising pearls from heaven!
Single drops turning torrential
as it nears the earth;
amorous as it readies to hug it.

Sunbeams slicing the raindrops
bringing out the rainbows hidden inside.
Misty drops dancing to the
music of a hallucinated wind,
bewitched by the grandeur
pouring from the heavens.
A parched earth drunk
with the heavenly nectar,
released a heady aroma
to soothe the dryness around.

Summer rain!
It left a solitary drop on a blissful leaf.
Gleaming and luminous,
it hangs on the green shoot
in a deep embrace,
to bury in its soul
the radiance enlivened by the
spirited dance of rain and sun;
to treasure for eternity
the splendour the first rain has gifted to
the dry earth.