The Poetry of Mark Daniel Milbocker 
The Last Lesson of Leaves

Drawn into the vein
as verdant vibrancy drains away
into carotenoid brilliance and
the last blush of anthocynanins
caramelizing from limbs to litter
the landscape in graceful umber,
no longer to capture the gust 
of warmer days but to 
lean lithe and lay low 
lest snowflake magic crack
a back and splay slumbering wick;
the gall of old man winter 
to silence the siren of saponins
and denude the gregariousness of
plumage so that old souls may
slumber a bit plumper warmed by
the respiration of long roots
who enjoy a spicy blend of 
mushrooming decay and the leavings
of lesser mammals, devotees to
fallen children and the 
dervish dance of metamorphizing 
survival into the coming spring thrive.
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