There were clouds in every shade of gray imaginable
and just one patch of robin’s-egg blue
showing that there are two sides to everything
even the autumn sky;
low slung clouds,
fringed with the icy tips of impending winter;
billowing with inner winds that threaten to break through,
allowing the first pin feathers of snow to cascade to the ground.

Today I picked the grapes,
But they were not mine to eat.
They were only mine to put into
The basket at my feet.

And when the day was over,
I stood and turned for home,
But I really didn’t have one.
My home is just a room.

One room in a two room shack
I share with my three brothers.
What we own fits in a gunnysack.
And we belong only to each other.

Yes, freedom is what we share
As we move from town to town
But we hope we’ll find a place somewhere
Where we can settle down.

A church, a school, a neighborhood,
The things you overlook.
As you eat the grapes I picked today.
And page through your Redbook.

Moon

In the early dawn hours,
As I looked to the sky
I saw the moon through the trees
Whispering good-bye.
Gently she faded from my sight
As the darkness waned
And the day waxed bright.

Light

I wish that I could paint the light
So you could see from far
How it fills the trees with morning stars
And changes leaves to amber
And back to green
More beautiful than I’ve ever seen before;
Yet causes me to remember
Another bright September
The kind of days I wish we’d share once more.