Sweetness in Amber
Sweetness of the autumn days
savored, tucked under my tongue
to melt to oak-gold shadows–
Wind-cleansed, rain-shined,
polished leaves dance
their last cotillion.
I will not think of storms to come,
of blighting frozen hands–no.
I will not let the future kill
the now which is eternal.
I’ll swim these green caves
of trembling suns back to their source
then turn and arch my back
to dive ten thousand thousand miles
toward home
and fly more free
than angels’ wings could carry me.
Impossibility can’t exist
if leaves and light can froth
in deliquescent airborne waves
and I may touch
the maple’s gown
and be transported by her gift
to paradises never lost
but found.
© 2014 Susanne Donoghue
Reading by WW Schwim
Photo by Patricia Curtis
Response
Ooo . . . This!
is a delicious piece of autumn pie!
The title
wraps itself around my tongue and
I am swept off my feet,
led on a deliquescent dance
to half-a-world
and back
through a kaleidoscope of amber jewels.
Lady on my arm, (most elegant of all)
the Maple Queen herself!
while angels applaud from above and
gathered storm clouds
lower their heads
in reverence.
A paradise revealed . . .
Vertiginous stuff indeed!
WW Schwim