QUOTE : To the Grass of Autumn”<br /><br />You could never believe<br />it would come to this<br />one still morning<br />when before you noticed<br />the birds already<br />were all but gone<br /><br />even though year upon year<br />the rehearsal of it<br />must have surprised<br />your speechless parents<br />and unknown antecedents<br />long ago gathered to dust<br />and though even the children<br />have been taught how to say<br />the word withereth<br /><br />no you were known to be<br />cool and countless<br />the bright vision on all<br />the green hills<br />rippling in unmeasured waves<br />through the days in flower<br /><br />now you are as the fog<br />that sifts among you<br />gray in the chill daybreak<br />the voles scratch the dry earth<br />around your roots<br />hoping to find something<br />before winter<br />and when the white air stirs<br />you whisper to yourselves<br />without expectation<br />or the need to know<br /><br /><i>September 18, 2001</i>