OCTOBER LEAVINGS

October Leavings


Lone leaf on bare branch am I:
poised between two worlds,
bygone baccanal of sap-rising
'n abyss of mouldering fall.
Fingers of chill pilfer my green
fading to briefer brighter colors
Winter Solstice curling
round my naked veins.
Nights longer, cooler:
sap-faltering now sires
crisp orphan.

I cling,
wondering
as stealthy nipping
weans my wild summer lusts
wind-woos my release:
frost-scowling
asking
me
even while I hold on
tarrying,
to be
Executor
of my own unfixing
quitting home
for head-over somersault
uncertain flight
to earth's restful carpetingB
--unnoticed exit
to hushed nightfall.

Sleep,
you soften my stiff
seedless form
with gentling rain
>n whispering breeze.

Self, be still to hear:

The shadow nearing is
an ancient mother
conceiving for another
spring.

Fear not, let go!
Your fall was not
reinless plunge,
but every
curve fated,
every straying
in the due lane.

Your upborne path
is already marked--
where you land
so lightly
is cradled womb
within Me.
+++

Paschal Bernard Baute
October 21, 1986
in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky,
at a place called
"Hell fer Sartin,"
--precious homeplace of
my wife's family