Darkness Visible

Song for Autumn

Don’t you imagine the leaves dream now
 how comfortable it will be to touch
the earth instead of the
 nothingness of air and the endless
freshets of wind? And don’t you think
 the trees, especially those with
mossy hollows, are beginning to look for

the birds that will come — six, a dozen — to sleep
 inside their bodies? And don’t you hear
the goldenrod whispering goodbye,
 the everlasting being crowned with the first
tuffets of snow? The pond
 stiffens and the white field over which
the fox runs so quickly brings out
 its long blue shadows. The wind wags
its many tails. And in the evening
 the piled firewood shifts a little,
longing to be on its way.

Mary Oliver