Connecticut recollection (1976)

I remember a forest of copper and gold
and wide lakes in which the water lulled
and a radiant blue sky and a bitter wind
and a song that every radio station played

endlessly about leaving and the heart breaking
and I thought that it would pursue me
to the ends of the earth and it did
but I looked closely at the leafless trees

and saw that the buds of new leaves
were there in place ready to burst forth
and it reminded me that nothing dies
no matter how challenged and that life
is endless and love too if it is true

John Lyons