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Autumn Colors 16 SEP: The Life and Times of Leif the Red
The Life and Times of Leif the Red
I am Leif the Red, born at the top of a tree!
I have been here since May, ere long I shall escape.
Autumn calls with icy winds, soon I shall be free!
When I was born, I was light green with bel-esprit.
I spread and grew to be a solar-drinking cape.
I am Leif the Red, born at the top of a tree.
The summer passed, I grew with power verdantly,
But stayed the staid life to hang: a broad, green drape.
Autumn calls with icy winds, soon I shall be free!
With chloroplast-filled veins, I fed my mother tree.
I built her wood. I gave her food. I swelled her shape.
I am Leif the Red, born at the top of a tree!
But autumn drains my chloroplasts, coloring me
With fire from my heart. Holes where friends were now gape.
Autumn calls with icy winds, soon I shall be free!
Frigid November winds, they blow and tug at me.
They call, “Come travel far!” and now I shall escape.
I am Leif the Red, born at the top of a tree;
Autumn calls with icy winds, at last, at last I’m free!
This poem is part of a series of five, called Leaf Droppings. They take the form of villanelles. I hope you enjoy them. Feel free to make a few autumn verses of your own below. You may have seen Maurice earlier. Lief was supposed to be the first in the series, but needed a serious rewrite.
Published in Group Writing
What a master you are! I love these poems–playful, colorful–well done, @arahant.
Thank you.
Hey, @kentforrester, don’t you wish you were still teaching?
You’re talkin’ crazy talk again, Arahant. Marie and I are at this moment sitting at a bar aboard a cruise ship berthed at the port of Naples. This morning we “did” Naples. Tomorrow it’s Sicily.
Teaching can go suck a lemon.
I’ll play some old Neapolitan songs in your honor.
As long as you play them on an accordion, grow a stache, and add a little vowel lift at the end of each word
I already have a stache (and beard). I’ll give you a choice of violin, recorder, ukulele, transverse flutes, fife, or whatever else I have in my closets. Ocarina, maybe? Could be anything in there from my days in the band.
I love these! I think I’ll use this during homeschool today – we read a book about Leif the Lucky (the Viking explorer) recently.
Feel free. Three more will be coming this month.
If I could get an illustrator, I’d turn them into a children’s book.
Hmmn, @rightangles, have you ever drawn leaves and trees?
Three cheers for @arahant and his poetry! This is the second of a series of seasonal and colorful poems as part of our Group Writing Series under the September 2019 Group Writing Theme: “Autumn Colors.” Hurry, hurry! One ticket left! Step right up and try your hand! Our schedule and sign-up sheet awaits.
Interested in Group Writing topics that came before? See the handy compendium of monthly themes. Check out links in the Group Writing Group. You can also join the group to get a notification when a new monthly theme is posted.