Light Upon the Autumn Leaves

He lay in the darkness
The sun going down.
Above him were the oaks,
The hard, cold ground beneath.
He could hear the wind
Blowing the snow, gritty grains
Hissing against dead leaves
Clinging to the trees.
A dog barked and then
It was still again.
His dad was smiling at his mom.
It seemed long ago,
When he was six, maybe seven.
He is older now, eleven.
He turns on his side,
Pulling his legs up,
His arms twisting his coat
Close against the cold
Looking up the gully toward the road.

She let him out around noon
On a clear September day
With the wind blowing hard
And dust in the air
From the fields of Nebraska.
He watched the car turn round
And drive slowly back
The other way, thinking
Of her eyes, the day
They met, playing touch football
Young, young and in college.
He cut his foot,
And she doctored it
As he lay on the couch,
Looking up at her,
With nothing said.
She drove away
Along the access road
Slowly over the bridge,
Turning left and gone forever.

He sat on the porch,
An old man now,
The sun setting in the west,
The light shining
Through the clouds, the trees,
Light upon the autumn leaves.
To his left his brother's pickup,
And in the distance the cows
Were coming home to feed.
The wind blew hard
Leaves fell yet some remained
The days, the hours,
The bliss, the pain,
The sound of snow against the trees,
The day she said goodbye.
And he wondered which of these
Would shine forever
Like the leaves.