A Hawk Song

Walking, cloaked in stillness

the sun a water-color smudge

in the half-light of fog

that lies like layers of wedding cake

 

Red, green and gold

a kaleidoscope of fractal sunlight

maple leaves like a bloodstain on the ground

the rustle of scarecrow stuffing

a shadow arcs across the sky

 

The frost fingers crawl an old wall

racing in bent angles toward the edge

the withered garden; rotting apples on the ground

all sinking into the earth

a keening cry echoes

 

I see the circling hawk

with stealthy purpose, suspended above

leeches vapor in a slow, inexorable descent

the spiral dance a forewarning