That faithless lover Summer
     Has already walked away
     Leaving behind some gifts:
          Fruits
          And a few trees painted bright colors
--- Back to Plutus
    And a winter diet of dry seeds,
Back to darkness.
The eyes that brightened
     At the sight of red and yellow trees
     Have dimmed:
          They could have joined Plutus
          For all they care
     As the owner,
          No longer seven
                 or ten
                 or twelve
     Snorts through clogged sinuses,
     Grumbles,
     And complains of damp weather
                  and aching joints.
Autumn was once a playmate,
     Hades a harmless fable
     That hardly described
          A glossy, snow-touched landscape
          Under even the darkest skies.
No lovers were faithless;
     Summer was never expected to stay.
Eyes that danced looked forward
     On those rare moments
     Not spent wondering at fair-weather clouds.
At least it seemed that way
     To the sleepy mind
     Of the back-sore figure
     Slumped before the lifeless eye
     Of a disconnected television,
          Growling an oath to a burnt-out tube.
 

10/17/83
 

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