Holly turning red
all along the winding trail,
little flames of fall
amongst the wildflowers—
silver hair of the forest
She is dying, dry
before rain, dry after rain
her children all dead
before they are born, before
the holly can burn, it burns
Eighty years to die—
eighty years for the river
eighty years for me
amongst the wildflowers—
silver hair of the river
She is dying, dry
before rain, dry after rain
her children all dead
before they are born, before
the trout can spawn, they are gone
Fall is beautiful
leaves now turning red as blood
all my long, long life
I was a leaf on your tree
but now we fall together
Katherine West is the author of three poetry collections—The Bone Train, Scimitar Dreams, and Riddle–and has had poetry published in such journals as Bombay Gin, Lalitamba, TheNewVerse.News, La Petite Zine among others. She lives and teaches poetry workshops about wilderness writing near Silver City, New Mexico.