Tuesday, September 17, 2019

In The Arkansas Woods

the bridge is broken where it stood
the bridge of stone
the mill wheel will not turn again

and I miss home.
November's startled leaves by some mysterious angel, jinn
by some weird turning of the wind

will lift in random flight

the earth, rich loam, it seems my own
the skies filled with their ransomed light.
I used to feel with every leaf

like Shelley, my whole soul could lift
and in far childhood with a small wagon
i carried whatever I could of drifts

time has drifted now
I am the same somehow 
sifted by love and grief
for this little bit

in the woods at dusk
but turn I must
through all this gold that now has set
and the leaf mold's beauty

I can't forget.

mary angela douglas 17 september 2019

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