"Yet later in our place an ugly toad half-opens its thick eyelid and one sees clearly: 'That's me.'" -Czeslaw Milosz, from Facing the River

Tea Leaves

Don’t be afraid when

all the orange leaves

float up and affix themselves

back on their tree

the trees will shrink

to saplings

and disappear

this will happen

with frogs as well

they’ll become tadpoles

and shrink into nothingness

old men will feel rejuvenated

and start running around the park

and when they see their reflection

in the metal slide they’ll be surprised

to see themselves as children

a bit later they’ll be embryos

and will then become single cells

and then they won’t even be that

everything that happened

will unhappen on this earth

couples will go back to their

puppy-love days before arguments

mountains will shrink into hills

birds will develop egg shells

around themselves

the only thing that won’t change

is the clouds

they will grow and shrink

storms will form and dissipate

as always

this was all their mistake

anyway