Autumn is a Beautiful Wake Poem

autumn leaves
autumn leaves

Autumn is a beautiful wake
with the orange
and red colors it makes
a funeral of leaves.

Birds and
butterflies flutter south
away from the mouth
of the winter stream
of cold air

Leaf raker’s it makes
of us
and we pile them
and children
jump into them

and the leaves
in orange and
the trees in black
dance for us
against a blue sky

I am always a little sad in autumn
to see the summer go
like a friend leaving town for a year
packing his shorts
and the Bermuda shirt
and his sandals

Every Spring I say
I have made it through
another winter,
every Fall I wonder
will this be the one

It’s best to just
jump in the pile of leaves
instead

david michael jackson