I hoped to hold
back a small part
of the year about
to close down,
wanting in
the dead
of winter
to see colors
of mottled, dry
leaves lingering
in their final hues
on the verge of going
away: autumn leaves in
an orangey crimson
conflagration just
barely hanging
on.  I hoped
to hold each back, 
pressed leaves in-
between the leaves
of the Bible, wishing
to see something of
how the leaves
might begin
to discover
a little of what
the Hereafter
might hold
in store
for us
left behind.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Terry Savoie has published more than three hundred and fifty poems during the past three decades in various literary journals around the country such as APR, Prairie Schooner, Birmingham Poetry Review, Ploughshares, Poetry and The Iowa Review.  The Bright Hill Press recently awarded his manuscript, Reading Sunday, the winner of this year's chapbook competition and it will be published later this year.