G o l d e n i n g

Between dike and river the color in willow
hung on in the lull of a warm not summery
day
                     hip-high dock weed kept some too
                     russet that in
the clarity of afternoon seemed to golden
and invite the watcher but to what
                     a student
crow worked at the river edge to the chivvying
of a parent
                     he might not have wanted to leave
                     for it to either
                                       der Tag ist süss und ladet
                                       ein
his argument might have run who knew only
summer
                     nothing of any fadeaway or end
                     no
current even showed and smoke would have gone straight
up and been reflected
                     too late
                     the autumn for
that was over and olden crows and olden men
were ready to yield to winter not this
                     goldened
day of no motion that invited them to what