Balding crowns on white oaks bend
With hues of copper, autumn red
Cascading tears of summer’s end
Around the head of winding trail

Swiveled sights, to west I think
To higher road, the longer route
Of upward path and downward leaf
And acorn kicked by toe of boot

Off quarry’s precipice I stared
And stalked my way down switchback’s sway
A clearing under open sky
Suspended time in humid air

Dreary miles above the trees
Snatched up my thoughts from where I kneeled
A marble laid by thorough hand
Miasma swirls in charcoal field

Though it behooves me to confide
In scenes of dreamscapes carved in wood
The pendulum of modern life
Beckons me onward as it should