Weeping Japanese Maple

garden outside

gentle movement, japanese maple weeping
red maroon tears outside my window
further on gray boulder pachyderm sleeping
hunched untouched by breezes slow

tall brown grass, weeds elegant, nearby swaying
like wheat and tares of scripture’s tale
rose bush, heat spent, nods as if praying
telling its beads with silent wail

autumn garden, botanical sclerosis,
ends its season dusty and gray
brittle, the stems that once held posies
dreaming of spring, so far away

– by C Eric Funston, 9 September 2014