Memorial Day: to whom are we beautiful as we go?

THREE IN TRANSITION

(FOR WCW)

I wish I understood the beauty
in leaves falling. To whom
are we beautiful
as we go?

I lie in the field
still, absorbing the stars
and silently throwing off
their presence. Silently
I breathe and die
by turns.

He was ripe
and fell to the ground
from a bough
out where the wind
is free
of the branches

[David Ignatow (1914-1997) from Against the Evidence: selected poems, Wesleyan University Press, 1993]