There are so many leaves
to fall that you almost
wonder how it can happen
without your hearing it.
But one does, in early
sunrise after a frost,
hear them falling one by
one, pirouetting in des-
cent en pointe upon one's
cap beneath their canopy,
finally specific, an en-
tire corps revealed one
by golden one; and one
sees the light transfig-
ured into following, fur-
ling sheaths of sudden
adulation, a lifelong
season's shade dispersed
in single, whole moments.