There’s something about fall
That brings such comfort
Brilliant colors and awe
Trees exploding like fireworks
That last for days
Of layers put on
And eventually taken off
Like the armor we
Wear before meeting someone
And the nakedness after
Of once cold drinks
Migrating to warmer ones
While anticipating the holidays
We live in such
A fast world that
Autumn slows down reminding
That change brings beauty
There comes a time
In every man’s life
When growing from sapling
To tree from trying
To doing and from
Student to teacher only
He knows when it’s
Time to push out
To bud then shade
And eventually fall only
To start over again
Until he becomes something
Else a door floor
Or even a memory
And like a willow
Or a river birch
I found my self
Rooted and simply standing
Often and at times
Victim of the wind
Which wound and weaved
Through the years limbs
And every so often
Men would stumble upon
Me in search of the
The river in which
They swam I drank
Throwing off their clothes
And splashing and diving
In and beneath me
The river their baptism
And me their comfort
When young I believed
That I was chalk
Creating and discovering newness
At middle age I
Learned that I was
Erasers wiping away unnecessary
Ideas making room for
More upon retiring I
Discovered that I was
The blackboard upon which
Ideas dreams were written
And finally now I
Understand that I am
Just a classroom in
Which the lessons of
Life have been learned
My nighttime dreams brought
Happiness an odd array
Of characters had gathered
To surprise me on
My birthday hosted by
My ex husband and
Attended by long lost
At one time friends
Now serving his command
The war he declared
Against me years ago
But my dream was
A bit of homecoming
As though I’d entered
The gates of Heaven
It was like it
Was many years ago
HARLAN DIDRICKSON 