the claiming

the leaves have created a half time fall,
lifting the edges of settling sun
long enough for me to read their stories
as they seek the soft floor of my life

i have owned so many lives,
disparate and unknown to each other
and have written every one into a seed
then sold them to the wind

roots and runners, tendrils of a self
called with secret names to join
beneath the nurturing earth
a being to me, and a mouth to speak

i gather the leaves gently to my hands
offer them to the sun, and sing