A treat for you all today. I was recently out and about and found a poem I simply adored. In many ways, it is a perfect poem. I won't go into the reasons I like it so much, but I simply MUST share it with you all.
Fallen Leaves by A.W. Robertson (1951)
The fallen leaf is but reborn
a gayer, freer thing.
Without stem anchor it courts the wind
and flies with it.
No longer coy and branch-bound
Its green dress gone it wears a rainbow,
A wingless bird of paradise.
In its new life it speaks
with gustful rustle.
At last it joins the restless myriads
on the ground.
They chorus an invitation
to heavy feet and troubled mind-
Come walk ankle-deep and forget the years.
Come walk in leaves and find youth's dream.
To me, this poem is really just awesome. There is so much in it to examine, so much going on all at once - I look at my own offerings and feel humbled and in awe. I've searched, and I can't find much of anything on A.W. Robertson - in fact, not much other than the poem cited above. Pity. I'd love to read more.
But there's only one way to get better, and that's to practice. Who knows, maybe someday, someone will find a word or two that I've written to inspire them the way Robertson's words have struck a note with me. If I don't write, that's not possible.
With that note: today's offering is a variation on a theme. Robert Frost wrote about "Stopping by the woods on a snowy evening..." - well, mine is slightly different!
I don't know why and never will-
my feet trod that hilly ground.
Clear and warm, a spring day, the leaves not yet budding,
the bone-trees click-a-clacking in the breeze.
But walk along that path I did,
amidst the fading brown of winter.
The ground, dotted here and there, the green of wild onion-grasses
the first to see the springing sun.
Soon, the vacant landscape will be a memory,
a safe haven in the woods born anew.
When my eyes are old the whys of that moment may be answered,
For now, "because" is all I can understand.
It is enough to know I was there.
Thanks for reading,
The Fat Kid
1 comment:
Kudos for using the word "trod." Highly underutilized word today, really. Interesting perspective the poem offers too. Mostly nature imagery, which I notice you tend to favor, but a nice bit of introspective twist at the end, tying the immediate moment to something greater.
Post a Comment