I watch the cherry strangled
by a vine of bittersweet.
I watch the butternut’s slow rot
from within, a dying heart.
I watch the apples form
a dot-to-dot when leaves are gone.
I watch all nature wither
as the hangman snugs his knot.
All around me surely age
as lines connect, draw taut.
Could I but watch unchanged the glow
that autumn brings, then stop.
Neal DonahueNeal Donahue was born in Maine but grew up on Long Island. His college education in Oklahoma was subsidized by the Navy and he majored in English. After serving 5 years as a submarine officer, he taught elementary school in Massachusetts and Vermont, incorporating poetry into his curriculum. Neal has had a number of poems published in small journals. He loves nature and writing poetry.
