by Daril Bentley

A leaf is wandering here and there,
directionless on the wind
and subject to an indifferent air.

Another is cartwheeling
over the lawn; vain, unable to find
its purpose in the world.

A third is languishing, caught
as if crucified dry and dying curled
on a cruel rose bush thorn.

I realize I have been taught
three reasons to be kneeling
before a certain tree since I was born.

Poetry and general editor Daril Bentley is compiler of The Bentley Guide to Poets & Poetry in English: Chaucer to Brodsky. He has been a semifinalist for the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award, a finalist for the New Mexico Book Award for Poetry, and a recipient of an Honorable Mention in the Writers’ Digest International Book Award for Self-published Poetry. Author of several books of poetry and a Black Mountain Press The 64 Best Poets series author, he has published in numerous poetry journals in the U.S. and abroad—most recently in Blue Unicorn, Grand Little Things, The American Journal of Poetry, The Chained Muse, and The Lyric. He makes his home in the “Mark Twain Landscape” of Elmira, NY.