A scholar walks through color
his coat a swirl of rust;
each leaf debates existence
then settles into dust
He notes that truth is motion
that beauty learns to fall;
that endings aren’t departures
just circles growing small
He pockets bits of wonder
to lecture winter’s youth;
but finds in every trembling
a simpler kind of truth
By dark his steps are scripture
his heart an open ground—
the forest writes its thesis
in whispers not in sound