November Wildlife

Do you yearn for any someone,
walking city street or country lane?

Does rough wind sweep gold rust past you,
As quickly as a train?

I am this tiger wrought of autumn's fallen
Claws that spark like flint and steel;

A beast of pure desiring
That knows your heart, and how you feel.

Now peering from the gutter
Gazing through the brush

You, my tender prey
Oblivious beside the bush

Lost in imagination as if in Dacia
Or perhaps, the Hindu Kush.

But I am there
As you spy sugar garnet maple,

and think of syrup sweet,
your staff of life, your staple.

Taken by the color, brush it 'gainst your vest
To dry and clean it, press it to your chest.

At once that five point leaf, it is my paw,
velvet strong tender, which no one ever saw.

Gripping you gingerly, to start a fire
Your tinder gasp is my proof in time,

Of an autumnal meeting
Our harvest love sublime.