Second version

Before our eyes
colours change
greens drained
to golds and rust
as leaves dry in the air
and so detach
cascading down
to the earth
whence they sprang

that eternal cycle
of life and death
and how the eyes
have it :
and we look
for the light in another
the rods and cones
of the retina
in the one we love
and there
our own image
the reflection
of that we project

a city of flesh
is many eyes
many intersections
of sight that sustains 
community
life always doing
always undone
until the final breath
and in the pitch darkness
inherent vision
the rose remains rose
the kiss a blissful kiss

John Lyons