October Falls in Rain

October falls in rain today

She drowns the yard with yellow leaves

And courts high-noon in mourner’s gray

Yet drips in diamonds from the eaves

Where all the colors of the world

Gather in legions at her feet

Because October is unfurled

With girlish sorrow; bittersweet

October weeps in poetry

An epilogue of leaf- shaped tears

That draws the reader to a sea

Of autumn sweeping over years

And in its undertow of plumes

And orchard-ghost-town thoroughfares

A soul-song of summer entombs

The looms that spun bloom-brocade chairs

October unravels her crown

With rivers running wild through trees

It turns umbrellas upside-down

And fills spilled rills with memories

Of once-upon-a-summer’s-day

When all the world was flower-twined

Before October's rainy day

That wove a trail of leaves behind

© Janet Martin