Fall Poem by Christopher Shepheard

We have run thus far together, you and I.
Time runs as the race runs; one shall slip,
Not hand in hand, but headlong past the brink
Of the world, to leave one stranded on the lip.

Still sun and moon will walk their weary round;
The earth will heave about its poles; like dust
The calendar will drip its days to lie
In drifts, while clocks fall reeking into rust.

It is the season for all things to fall:
My face falls as the leaf falls and my once
Bright spirit droops defeated like a lid
The eye forgets to open in the night.

For time invested is as time misspent;
The seeds I’ve sown are flowering and I trace
The darker petals that with evening drift
Across the changing shadows of your face.

(1991)