Elegy

Somewhere a tree is naked
Because you’ve fallen to the ground.
You and your sisters –
Red and orange and gold and brown,
A flaming pyre,
Burning higher,
As you whirl around,
Blown down.

Five points,
A fallen star.
You have veins so you must bleed too.
You were alive,
But now you’re dying like your sisters are.

Your spine,
Your stem is bent over backwards.
My poor little hunchback–
You do not lie flat anymore.
The brown spots that cause you so much pain,
The small, arthritic dots,
They spread.

From your heart, your soul,
Through your veins of bright autumn fire,
All the way to the tips of your fingers,
They consume you.

They spread and spread and spread –
Until, my friend,
You are dead.