Day-colored wine,
night-colored wine,
wine with purple feet
or wine with topaz blood,
wine,
starry child
of earth,
wine, smooth
as a golden sword,
soft
......
The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.
......
Baskets of peaches
Ripe, juicy, luscious and warm
Tangerine sun goes
Summer left these gifts behind
Like blooms of my memory
Flamingos soon dance
Along the edges of dusk
Beautiful endings
Preserves and pies are waiting
......
His words were magic and his heart was true,
And everywhere he wandered he was blessed.
Out of all ancient men my childhood knew
I choose him and I mark him for the best.
Of all authoritative liars, too,
I crown him loveliest.
How fondly I remember the delight
That always glorified him in the spring;
The glorious profusion and the benedight
......
Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,
Tears from the depth of some divine despair
Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,
In looking on the happy Autumn-fields,
And thinking of the days that are no more.
Fresh as the first beam glittering on a sail,
That brings our friends up from the underworld,
Sad as the last which reddens over one
That sinks with all we love below the verge;
......
In the late fall
After apple picking and around thanksgiving
When the leaves started
To fade from green to red
We’d hook up the PTO from the old Deere
To a massive circular saw
Like something out of a cult horror movie
Coated in flaking layers of leaded rust paint
And under a cloud of diesel exhaust
And the slow blue smoke
......
Desolate, windswept trees are shivery,
when red and purple leaves are falling.
Ungathered cherries hang in reverie!
Desolate, windswept trees are shivery,
engaged in multihued, cool creativity.
Goodbye violet birds skyrocket, calling!
Desolate, windswept trees are shivery,
when red and purple leaves are falling.
Opalescent leaves fall
outside summer's green door.
Outbound, a year sparkles
once age has come with grace.
Orange sun, red roses
of a starry evening.
Old age looks back, dreaming.
The air is crisp and cool
The leaves are red and gold
The trees are shedding their summer clothes
And preparing for the winter cold
......
plump red strawberries
the kind we knew last red dusk
when time inched by brusque
garnet stars flash on
scarlet leaves and cardinals
mars phenomenal
crimson dragonflies
when fruitful days are going
......