Caramel
It takes the louche cool
of late summer on the heel
of a long-drawn-out
drought to bring out the best
in a leaf
before it sets free its ghost.
When desire isn’t all
that matters, then fall
is the deciduous rise
to the surface
of carotene, anthocyanin
or xanthophyll,
silenced till now by the clamour
of chlorophyll. And even this
sweetness must be lost –
a red lament of abandon,
defiance,
indeed, utterly natural.
From Reading the Flowers (Arc, 2016)
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