Poems by Kimberly L. Becker
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You Came Back East
by Kimberly L. Becker
From Canary Autumn 2009
Kimberly lives near the Great Falls of the Potomac River, a series of cascades and white water rapids above the Chesapeake Bay in the Middle Potomac-Anacostia-Occoquan and Catoctin watersheds.
You came back East,
declared the leaves a disappointment.
I concurred, apologizing like a guide
for the underwhelming show.
But just this morning
the wet and mottled motley
of the maple reminded me
of what I should have known.
The leaves averred that change is hard:
Climate conspires
to make it difficult to die.
Filled with chlorophyll
we wait for chill that never comes
or comes too late for us to peak
in the orange, red, yellows that you seek.
© Kimberly L. Becker