Instauration

Published in Trillium, Volume 12

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Ruddy rainbows of autumn confetti

Touch the ground in scrapes and crunches.

Relief sighs through high branches,

Which whisper blessings on the wind.

The forest rains morsels of death upon itself

In a declaration of survival.

Gentle, easy, the snapping of stems.

No leaf is free until it’s stomped into earth.