Leavings
This is the dying time, when earth
relinquishes its surplus.
These words once mine
blown on a cool wind
from the lost land of the mind
settled last night like quiet birds
on memory’s shore.
I greet them with surprise –
together we will journey blind,
probing the ever shifting sands,
unsure of what’s in store . . . only
that there is more.
Before a shivering silvered night
lures to a feast the spoiler frost,
be quick to pick, cost what it may,
the late fruit on your tree,
– there’ll be no more –
and leave it on the roadside stall
where the merchandise is free
to all who pay their dues in kind
for other walkers on the way
where less is more
Pauline Matarasso (1929-2023)
