Neighborhood Leaves In Autumn

Butter light,

empty streets,

and movement

along the periphery,

across the crown of

rooftops like angels

in a bind, or birds on

bark turning loose,

turning back, thinking

small measures are

worthless while everything

is fading yellow, purple-

ripening on dry ferns

and dying bramble.

This air is an open door

into another otherworld

of radiance and shadows

waiting at the edges to

receive holy things with

veins and memories

piling up into testimony

that paradise is what

happens after beautiful.