LEAVES

He burst outside
our rented cabin
wild with the need
to cover himself with leaves -
to lie in a crackly, musty bed
of ginger, saffron, cinnamon
and wine.
"Cover me,
cover me up,"  he cried,
and burrowed deep
like a quick-silver lizard,
then lay still.
For a moment
the forest silence
was his camouflage.
Then with a yell
he was up
thrashing and swimming
in an ocean of autumn spices.
The cast-off glory
of a thousand trees
is the bounty
of a child.