October 28, 2022

Autumn Ruminations

I love leaves flying up
from an old pickup truck
down a country road.

I love specimen trees
sheltering old stone walls
with shared glory.

I love reclaimed railroads -- 
their walking paths indivisible 
from the forest floor -- 

I love a covered bridge
and the leaf-littered creek 
cantering beneath it.

I love being amazed
by the variation from
year to year – the scarlet

snake of poison oak, the
pitched copper pennies of
crepe myrtle, the molten

tears of mulberry’s contort --
Not occurring every year 
or even concurrently,

but right on time and 
never as planned -- because 
God owns the details, and

Nature drafts the schedule.