Too early for autumn, so I had to
convince myself I saw
above the street this morning
a whole fleet, an army,
an air force of brown pointed
leaves going AWOL,
madly abandoning its
camp in a tree—but (as if refusing
both surrender and retreat)
exploding up instead of falling,
then executing a quick barrel rolled
burst along the horizontal,
breaking for freedom
with all of its might—like a scrappy
half-starved young colony
of sparrows, who would rather
their poor overtaxed
hearts give out from the fight
than stay put and continue
to exist in my mind's stultifying
grip of persecution.
