If I Were a Leaf, I Would Fall for You

 

If I were a leaf, I would fall for you.
From high atop the highest tree, I’d spy
As you came forth and topple through the blue
To meet your shoe as it kicked me up high,
To fall and rise once more and tumble nigh
That shoe to be kicked again as my plan
To be near your feet or fluttering high,
To always be your leaf that takes the van.
I am no falling leaf; I am a man,
A tired, old mortal with little play
Where once I strolled and kicked the leaves and ran
Beside you. Then I matched you fey for fey.
Good days come and good days go. Good days fade.
But those memories I would never trade.

Published in Group Writing
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  1. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    This is an entry in our Group Writing project. Tomorrow and Thursday are still open, if you’d like to try your hand at “If I was a —, I would —.”

    • #1
  2. Aaron Miller Inactive
    Aaron Miller
    @AaronMiller

    If I was a poem, I’d start with a line

    about leaving alone or leafing through a book

    high atop a high thing like a poet’s gaze. Mine

    would fit like a shoe if the previous crook

    would keep his rhymes easy. The meter I took

    from rising and falling, the egos of men

    in shadows of fey ever worthy a look

    (more often falling — since there we begin

    and linger a while, if I’m honest.) The sin

    is that poets can kick around rhymes in the night

    while smart people sleep. Oh, they dream and they grin

    for chasing fair fey that hearts set alight! 

    The sleeping man catches his dream at the bell

    while poets keep kicking at lines. Just as well.

     

    • #2
  3. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Aaron Miller (View Comment):
    would keep his rhymes easy.

    Blame it on Spenser.

    • #3
  4. CB Toder aka Mama Toad Member
    CB Toder aka Mama Toad
    @CBToderakaMamaToad

    You two are extremely delightful. <warm fuzzies>

    • #4
  5. She Member
    She
    @She

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Aaron Miller (View Comment):
    would keep his rhymes easy.

    Blame it on Spenser.

    I always do.

    • #5
  6. KentForrester Coolidge
    KentForrester
    @KentForrester

    What’s with you and Miller?  Are you guys trying to bring back the word “fey.”  Good luck with that. 

    • #6
  7. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    She (View Comment):
    I always do.

    It’s a good policy.

    • #7
  8. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    KentForrester (View Comment):

    What’s with you and Miller? Are you guys trying to bring back the word “fey.” Good luck with that.

    I think he was just copying my usage. As for me, I’m older than the altars of the West, and many’s the word I cleave to my breast.

    • #8
  9. Stina Member
    Stina
    @CM

    Arahant: That shoe to be kicked again as my plan
    To be near your feet or fluttering high,

    Stockholm poetry.

    • #9
  10. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Stina (View Comment):
    Stockholm poetry.

    Heh. Wasn’t meant in that way, but that is a funny thought.

    • #10
  11. KentForrester Coolidge
    KentForrester
    @KentForrester

    Arahant (View Comment):

    KentForrester (View Comment):

    What’s with you and Miller? Are you guys trying to bring back the word “fey.” Good luck with that.

    I think he was just copying my usage. As for me, I’m older than the altars of the West, and many’s the word I cleave to my breast.

    Well, just cleave away, if thou must. 

    • #11
  12. Aaron Miller Inactive
    Aaron Miller
    @AaronMiller

    KentForrester (View Comment):

    What’s with you and Miller? Are you guys trying to bring back the word “fey.” Good luck with that.

    The women, good sir! We bring the women! ;)

    • #12
  13. Doug Kimball Thatcher
    Doug Kimball
    @DougKimball

    I love a good sonnet.  Thanks A and A.

    • #13
  14. Boss Mongo Member
    Boss Mongo
    @BossMongo

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Aaron Miller (View Comment):
    would keep his rhymes easy.

    Blame it on Spenser.

    Man, that guy was a great private eye.

    • #14
  15. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Boss Mongo (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Aaron Miller (View Comment):
    would keep his rhymes easy.

    Blame it on Spenser.

    Man, that guy was a great private eye.

    Hawk makes me laugh.

    “I might need some support,” Hawk said.

    “You might?”

    “Yeah. Pay’s lousy.”

    “How much?” I said.

    “I’m getting nothing.”

    “I’ll take half,” I said.

    “You ain’t worth half,” Hawk said. “Besides I got the job and already put in a lot of time on it. Give you a third.”

    “Cheap bastard,” I said.

    “Take it or leave it,” Hawk said.

    “Okay,” I said, “you got me over a barrel. I’m in for a third.”

    — Double Deuce, Robert B. Parker

    • #15
  16. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Boss Mongo (View Comment):
    Man, that guy was a great private eye.

    Suddenly, I am picturing an Elizabethan private eye novel.

    • #16
  17. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Boss Mongo (View Comment):
    Man, that guy was a great private eye.

    Suddenly, I am picturing an Elizabethan private eye novel.

    You never read any of the Spenser books? They’re good.

    • #17
  18. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    You probably never read any of the Travis McGee novels by John D. MacDonald.

    Mongo practically lives a Travis McGee novel. He just has to move to Fort Lauderdamndale,  live aboard a houseboat (slip F-18, Bahia Mar Marina), and explain to Mrs. Mongo about all the bikini-clad women hanging around.

    That last one could get him killed.

    • #18
  19. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Percival (View Comment):
    You never read any of the Spenser books? They’re good.

    Sure, but they aren’t Elizabethan. Also remember the TV show with Robert Urich and Avery Brooks as Hawk.

    • #19
  20. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Percival (View Comment):
    You never read any of the Spenser books? They’re good.

    Sure, but they aren’t Elizabethan. Also remember the TV show with Robert Urich and Avery Brooks as Hawk.

    I never watched the TV show.

    • #20
  21. CB Toder aka Mama Toad Member
    CB Toder aka Mama Toad
    @CBToderakaMamaToad

    Percival (View Comment):
    Avery Brooks as Hawk.

    I love Avery Brooks. Captain Sisko is a god…

    • #21
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