AUNT LEAF
Needing one, I invented her โ
the great-great-aunt dark as hickory
called Shining-Leaf, or Drifting-Cloud
or The-Beauty-of-the-Night.
Dear aunt, Iโd call into the leaves,
and sheโd rise up, like an old log in a pool,
and whisper in a language only the two of us knew
the word that meant ๐ง๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ,
and weโd travel
cheerful as birds
out of the dusty town and into the trees
where she would change us both into something quicker โ
two foxes with black feet,
two snakes green as ribbons,
two shimmering fish โ
and all day weโd travel.
At dayโs end sheโd leave me back at my own door
with the rest of my family,
who were kind, but solid as wood
and rarely wandered. While she,
old twist of feathers and birch bark,
would walk in circles wide as rain and then
float back
scattering the rags of twilight
on fluttering moth wings;
or sheโd slouch from the barn like a gray opossum;
or sheโd hang in the milky moonlight
burning like a medallion,
this bone dream,
this friend I had to have,
this old woman made out of leaves.
-- Mary Oliver
It's the first day of #Autumn! Here's a favorite autumnal poem from Mary Oliver:
#poetry #autumnpoetry #fallpoetry