Tom Luhrmann
RIVERSIDE
The leaves turn a bright gold
and as they begin to fall
we see everything
that's been hidden :
There is the hill
where the bagpiper stood
every summer evening.
There are the empty tennis courts,
the highway running beside the river,
the people, only a few,
going down into the park
for exercise
and peace.
One tree still has most of its leaves.
It
is shaped like a narrow cone
and is remarkably symmetrical.
"These woods, these fields .. .
will be the stage of your redemption"
it might say
if it could speak
though, who knows,
it might keep silent.
Nearby a little girl
is tieing ribbons to the branches of the empty trees;
the Swiss psychiatrist who follows her
believes the presence of such goodness
will constellate
some evil.
The meadow
where the sunbathers worshipped
is unusually green.
