Late Autumn Poem by Birgit Bunzel Linder

Titmice and sparrows flock for food at dusk
Farewells hang in the air like lanterns

Hoarfrost weaves over black bark
Cracks quilt the quiet lake

A flock of crows pace the underbrush
Watching souls rise in rime fog

The wind sweeps the trees clean
Leaves sink heavy with experience

Saluting all that is fallen and free
Knowing that all has begun

Long before fever rises out of dew, long
Before wisdom summons back the hawk