THE AUTUMN MERMAID
I was born in autumn
When life is hostile
To restraining anything
That would prefer to fly
On high, vermilion leaves
Dove away from their branches
And higher
The laundry of angels
Fluttered away from the lines
I listened for the mating whistle of the buck
And rose to meet that wild waiting love
Under the incomprehensible gentleness of his gaze
The humanity in me shattered into a thousand golden leaves
I was born in autumn
When leaves are weighted down with becoming
Chrysalises can barely flutter in the wind they are so
heavy with metamorphosis
The tree reckless enough to reveal
Drops his charlatan green cloak
And the wonder of his truth
Leaves him ruby and gold
If you are born in autumn
When the branches' burn coalescent
Convert to monarch wings
And rocket down
When the sucrose leaves are aware, where they land, the
earth will become fecund
You will always be enamored with that descent
All extraneous but beauty and birth
So when the river was morning-lit and autumn cold
I leapt into that liquid autumn gold
The autumn mermaid
Intrigued by the journey under
I was born in autumn
When life is hostile
To restraining anything
That would prefer to fly
On high, vermilion leaves
Dove away from their branches
And higher
The laundry of angels
Fluttered away from the lines
I listened for the mating whistle of the buck
And rose to meet that wild waiting love
Under the incomprehensible gentleness of his gaze
The humanity in me shattered into a thousand golden leaves
I was born in autumn
When leaves are weighted down with becoming
Chrysalises can barely flutter in the wind they are so
heavy with metamorphosis
The tree reckless enough to reveal
Drops his charlatan green cloak
And the wonder of his truth
Leaves him ruby and gold
If you are born in autumn
When the branches' burn coalescent
Convert to monarch wings
And rocket down
When the sucrose leaves are aware, where they land, the
earth will become fecund
You will always be enamored with that descent
All extraneous but beauty and birth
So when the river was morning-lit and autumn cold
I leapt into that liquid autumn gold
The autumn mermaid
Intrigued by the journey under
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