Maresfield Gardens

These translucent leaves
           that Freud once knew
no longer have any use
            for this late autumnal light
except to illuminate
           their frail falling beauty
but what a wonderful show it is
           these yellows and coppers
and wafer thin golds
           drifting gently down

Though I go unnoticed
           through the throng
one day I will be a stranger
           to nothing
and that’s the way it should be
           a poet silent
except in my verses
           a believer in words
knowing that if the words fail
           all else will fail too
along with the gifts
           of water and air and light

In an unswept garden
           the litter of leaves
drifting and turning
           in the light wind
and in the centre
           a rose bush
several in fact
           but only one
with a single surviving yellow rose
           and so far from Texas

John Lyons