earth note 349

colors of the soul
drip down
just after dawn

with a cluster of red-brown leaves

burrowing in
a leafy green maple
across the avenue

as the rains come

& the traffic slows
the withering ones
     weep
& try to cover their tracks
worming inward 
drooping lower

a steady crawl towards the body

     where the trunk
     does not flinch

--- e b bortz

(published in earth notes and other poems, Least Bittern Books, 2015)