Autumn Leaves

Two days ago passed away my dear old friend and Esperanto teacher Dr Kate Hall 92 years old. She was not only an accomplished academic in the field of French literature and a translator from Esperanto into English, Kate was also a fine poet in her mother tongue. She loved the autumn and specially in her last years she was happy to live at places always surrounded by old big trees. I miss her dearly.

Below you will find one of her late autumn poems

Autumn Leaves

The color of autumn leaves pleases me: brown, 

Brown like rich soil where the leaves find their rest,
Brown like brown nuts, like brown eggs in a nest,
Like roof and fence and wall in an old town,
Brown like the agates in an ancient crown,
Brown like a cup of tea for a loved guest,
Or a tasty meal which God and the cook have blessed
Before the guest and cook gladly sit down.

Brown like the skin of horses or of kine
Or dwellers in the land of Palestine
Or further south or east, shaman or bronze,
Or brown like copper vessels highly priced
On market stalls, or vessels of burnished bronze
As the saint in vision saw the feet of Christ.