Haiku
Composed during last day of RAM DASS, October, 1969:
Bluebirds blazed in red trees.
My eyes held them
As cold branches grasped their feet.
Jay's cries scratched harsh marks
Across the clear air of sky.
Chalk lines of white slate.
Each step dislodges grasshoppers.
Flying flecks flee
As shadows shun dawn.
Blood-stained maple leaves,
Still green,
Startled that autumn should change them so soon.
Confusion of colors:
Yellow leaves, indigo-veined,
Blushing to red.
Lace-trace on leaf-back,
River-map in miniature.
Chlorophyll blood.
Motor-mutter invades the temple,
Cutting incense silence:
With Time.
Plucked stalk dying,
Fresh cerements
Annihilating preservation.
Sun shaft on madras:
Antiquities illumination
Here, yes, now.
Red Carpets on concrete:
Cold luxury for bare feet.
Man's sweat's soft \scent.
Asana strains prana.
Body exertion clenches lungs
Like flexed fists.