Empty footfalls,

leave trackless patterns,

on the mat of colored leaves.

Here in a fall afternoon.

I believe it’s still there.

Even though I know it’s gone.

Forever, is on my mind,

held tight in measured silence.

Look skyward from my downward gaze.

Catch the serenity of clouds rolling away.

Beyond my touch where their motion beckons.

Where my mind’s eye wishes to be.

I continue my shuffle through,

the patterned leaves and shifting grass.

My pace reminds me of this fall day,

too short now, yet long in coming,

brief after a decade passed.

Trapped in this methodical pace,

I pace, pace onward plodding,

never free to fly as in my mind’s eye.