If Bells, by Isaiah Silvers

Six Persimmons, by Mu Ch'i Fa-Ch'ang (China) 13th century

If Bells
 
Last of
Fall’s partisans
are the persimmon trees who
suspend their weary gems on fog
lain fields,
 
and six
persimmons in
rooms closed to me ring
the blue-gray toll of all not on
display.
 
If bells,
they cut breaths then let each sounder
vanish, cast among their
shades as flint chips
on the
mountainsides--
dampened pink
up close, they fossilize
at each approach and clang. If fruit,
they fade.

Isaiah Silvers
​
Isaiah Silvers was born in Washington, D.C. He now teaches English in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan.