A roof of tin begins to speak
With rain as tongue and gutter creek;
Red leaves convene to learn the code
Each droplet dots a shifting ode
Consonants drum on wooden rail
While vowels lift in misty veil;
The syllables of tender weather
Bind roof and earth in reading tether
I sound the lesson slow and clear:
Return is built into the year;
What falls will write what rises next
A grammar of the unperplexed
By lantern glow the lines conclude
In fragrant cedar-amber mood;
I close the book the rain composed
And carry peace where worry posed