Autumn Ascent

Coming back up another way,

I pause again for breath,

Sit by a fractured stone,

Aware of the many trees death,

The dire cascade,

All around,

Red, yellow and brown,

In variegated sheets

Flash and ebb

Upon the unlit ground.

Here bush and gardens meet 

I, trace back the burn-off,

Mark the way down

To the tenebrous valley floor.

Where swollen smoke

Sits, creeps and winds, and

Impalpably coils by

Hapless ferns

And riven gums,

And dragonflies

Pent in mid-air.

I'd put a face

To my thoughts,

If I could,

But would that help,

Their roiling?