October SunsetRebecca DuPont
october sunset

a monarch rests her silk wings
preparing to hitch a ride
on a southern current ripe seeds
yield sprinkling yellow fields
of billowing prairie grass
in the center the mother tree
her mahogany bark ignited
by the setting sun clings to clusters
of orange leaves a doe passes
beneath guiding her younglings
south toward warmth
and a remembered salt lick
evening’s long fingers begin
to weave light through thinning
boughs opening the way to
winter’s starlight fierce as scripture

Pat Martin