Looking up through Falling Leaves

 
Though meant to be a red or yellow flame
some leaves blight dulls:
remember Requiem
for half-dead souls
 
Others, wind and worm misshapen
never to grow right –
overcome their alteration
filtering the light
 
One man in prison found bright faces
hands and voices, crowds and  places
helped memory to defy
captors, sickness, weakness – choices
rather than deny
the day which makes leaves bright
the light which builds the cells which make decay
 
                                                (originally called “Martyrdom” – 1960s)