Leaf Gathering

Children are raking leaves into big piles

muscles are sore, they’ve been working since morning

sweat gathers between fleece and flesh

their minds wander, this isn’t their world

they long to switch the haft for the game controller

fragrant leaves crumble their smell to the air

as the rake shreds them into ordered rows

piles grow ever larger

finally the children spill gasoline and light a match,

turning the gathered shreds into burning pyres

gathering smoke in the lowland of the ravine

they huddle around and breathe it in as it burns

hands shoved in their pockets

 

Later when they are caught in the wisdom of age

when their rise and fall grows slower and weaker

they will smell the burn on the air, through open window

and it will return them to childhood,

sweat beneath their fleece

the haft in their hand

muscles sore with work

breathing in the gathered ghosts of a former life

huddled around the guttered flames as they pass into ash