HOW IT ENDS

Leaves caught in eddying air swirl near the office door
skittering across the concrete
with dust and the celophane wrapper from a cigarette packet,
dancing on toes in a last wild fling of a year
that's passing away.
The wind will fall and so will they
and here they'll lie,
bringing to mind
despair
and desolation.

And I had danced with them,
in the eddying air;
danced and laughed
as my life slipped by
towards loneliness
and grief.