autumn Notes from the kayak

In a deserted still sea
Gold does not shine
Yet caresses the shore,
Gives the trees faces
That gaze at boulders 
Like giant turtles
Incapable of lying
Either to me or the flocks
Flying low in fog's padding
Toward new land,
On a fleeting surface.

Unshifting skies weep droplets
Slight as cygnets among the reeds,
Parents circle
Feed, nestle
In the pause
Before the freeze
The oar breaks molasses
On lifting it heals,
No trace of anticipation
Or my giddy heart
Once here.

In the lost realm
Where fish graze
A tree grows from the deep,
Once ignored
By famished sailboats
Hungry to be free,
Witness to the fullness,
No wind
No need
Breath rising and falling
On the thickening eve.