What Wind Cannot Respect

What wind cannot respect a dying leaf Whose gentle whisp goes on a raging spree And rips the fading foliage from a tree Then tears away without a faint remorse Nor stops to mourn with stricken bough Nor hears the barren pledge a solemn vow To save next autumn's golden child, But slashes on to raid another's arm And set another writhing in alarm What wind cannot respect a dying leaf Whose presence only serves a bitter grief. FIRST PLACE WINNER Brian Strand's "All Yours" Contest Poetry Soup