The jagged outline of the world

Bluffs covered with forest

A dead tree by the shore

Branches occupied by blackbirds,

Red-winged, vigilantes of dawn

Rise and string out across the surface

Dragonflies pose over the water

Motionless in flight

As first light scatters

Then becomes present

Canoe splits the water

Shaping a course

Past the red sand gullies

Fallen logs in the water

The wind over the river will steal the leaves

And drop them here to float

Then fall to the deeps

No arguing with fall when it comes

The growing white, the silence

No stopping the transformation