Shooting  Leaves in Early Autumn

Leaves falling singly or in wind-blown sheets,

I scope their paths with optometric eye,

And calculate the airborne routes they fly

All through a lens, with telephotic feats.

Prepared and aided by technology

I trust that Newton’s laws of gravity

Will force my leaves into an earthward spiral,

To plummet and conform in every trial.

I spot my leaf in distant, solitary fall

And focus all my optic weaponry,

Employing arts of still photography.

But Nature’s arts prove not to be in thrall:

My golden leaf is not a leaf at all,

Whose fluttered flight deceives my sight

And being but a golden butterfly,

Transcends the earth, ascends up toward the sky.

Disappointed and amused,

My plan now all confused,

I pack my gear, perhaps for days,

And learn to love the tricks that Nature plays.

Don Knies