Autumn in the Marsh

One red leaf among the once green,
before a threatening, clouded sky.

One leaf among all this dying
and brown and fading foliage.

One calm thing among the noise
of the highway, the gun shots,
the jet engines, the dry winds.

One red leaf among the once green,
above the fetid and receding marsh.

One leaf among all this drying
of the broken branches and grass.

One bright thing among the browns
of the caked mud, the bare ground,
the empty nest, the flying dust.

One red leaf fluttering in the breeze.

Why does this one red leaf
so proudly beam its rapture,
when it knows
it too will soon fail and fall?