Reincarnation

From this third-story window,
all that is visible is the sky,
vast and beryl beyond
giant oaks that s t r e t c h
for stars just out of reach.

Browned leaves float on
as though suspended by wires;
free-flying, they know
no boundaries
as weak as gravity.

Shortly I will return
to the discarded tissues and
still open textbooks on the floor,
and when at last I sleep,
I should like to be reborn
as a scarlet autumn leaf.