Between the thud of chestnuts
And the thunderous hum of weather
That heaves their sounds together,
The heart hesitates.
Precocious winter's polar wind
Sets things ashiver. My eyes
Look over the ledge that lets
Daylight dissolve into ice.
Marble, branches...
At a touch
the leaves like arrows launch
to the ditch with a twist.
The final herd heads by, their breath a part
of the rising mist.