every leaf a poem
they litter path with
edges burnt
still green at heart
walking Bruce Trail
on escarpment Niagara
mother
with child riding her back
leading the way
and we follow climbing
climbing
treading these large
maple leaves
and then we reach
the freeway that climbs
steep bank
walk along railing looking
down on the city below
some have climbed over
this rail and fallen leaf-like
to hopeless death
you can read messages to them
on the concrete
we walk past and I think
of the child on the mother-back
so secure and loved
and part of us
a poem of warmth and evergreen
heart
