Have you noticed            along  East State

and the Library           frost has come,

taking with it the leaves            but not

the hundreds of berries           revealed now,

unprotected to the elements,    neither

devoured nor visited by the birds?

The hungriest feathered aviators, how did they

learn the lesson     not to be tempted

by the round brown faces      hanging around

and so available?      Is their odor pungent,

their taste bitter?         Their juice deadly?

They look like berries to me,       or is it an illusion?

I  learn my lessons painfully.

 

Nan