Tuesday, August 09, 2011

 

Poetry Cavalcade 14: Falling


An old man at a buffet
At a casino in Vegas
Sat alone with his coffee
And thought about falling.

Leaves falling
Light as a pencil
So many times he had seen them in flight,
But never, not once
Depart from the branch.

Yet, there must be that moment!
Right?
When that red leaf takes flight?

There must be no sound
When the leaf breaks away
(Or we'd hear it)
Silence cloaks it
That moment
Between God, leaf, and tree.

"Follow me," he thought.
"Fall with me then."



Comments:
Look,Professor...I've got to get some work done! Damn! this is fine. We have a strong character here and what would seem to be a perfect vignette of loneliness,a man at the end of his life drinking coffee alone...in Vegas yet...at a buffet. And yet, he has a relationship with a tree...with leaves yet and apparently,with God.That we hear him think those last two lines is very precious to me. There is a lightness,a sacred lightness,a graceful lightness,a camaraderie in death.
 
It's interesting-- of my parents, only one grasped that part about death. Most of my poems aren't about that.

The idea is from Death Cab for Cutie's I Will Follow You Into the Dark.
 
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