The Shapes of Leaves

    Ginkgo， cottonwood， pin oak， sweet gum， tulip tree：

    our emotions resemble leaves and alive

    to their shapes we are nourished.

    Have you felt the expanse and contours of grief

    along the edges of a big Norway maple¹？

    Have you winced² at the orange flare³

    searing the curves of a curling dogwood？

    I have seen from the air logged islands，

    each with a network of branching gravel⁴ roads，

    and felt a moment of pure anger， aspen gold.

    I have seen sandhill cranes moving in an open field，

    a single white whooping⁵ crane in the flock.

    And I have traveled along the contours

    of leaves that have no name. Here

    where the air is wet and the light is cool，

    I feel what others are thinking and do not speak，

    I know pleasure in the veins⁶ of a sugar maple，

    I am living at the edge of a new leaf.