Across the lake,
birch leaves
crown the red pines—
bright gold.

The lake—
an old mirror
shattered by wind—
holds them upside down,
wavering
in its broken surface.

Days like this—
we don’t notice,
we even forget,

already turning
toward winter—
snow and ice,
frozen lakes, bare trees
the long cold coming.

 

Patricia Wallesverd lives in northern Wisconsin with a husband and a dog named Dorothy. She finds much inspiration in the nature that surrounds her.