Orchestral Maneuvers

cloud-capped canopies

waft down-spiraling scales,

a deciduous descending crescendo:

this litany of leaves,

flutes of foliage falling,

clarinets of claret,

scarlet saxophones,

butter-hued bassoons,

variegated violas;

an earthbound orchestra of autumn

turning brown on the ground,

bass drum beating beneath bare branches,

decomposers conducting

the next movement

through the dark