SEASONS

Autumn leaves,
some tan, some brown,
some rather unnoticed,
huddled and cornered
trying to keep warm
outside the red brick school,
parents and grandparents,
looking at their watches,
waiting for the afternoon
school bell to sound and
send out to them
hundreds of kids,
running out into the cold,
kids unaware of age and autumn,
kids in their long spring,
kids, a long time till
they are like their parents
and grandparents, autumn leaves,
some tan, some brown,
some rather unnoticed,
after a long hot summer of life,
now huddled and cornered,
trying to keep warm
outside red brick schools.

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2007