The alphabet of
the trees
is fading in the
song of the leaves
the crossing
bars of the thin
letters that spelled
winter
and the cold
have been illumined
with
pointed green
by the rain and sun--
the strict simple
principles of
straight branches
are being modified
by pinched-out
ifs of color, devout
conditions
the smiles of love--
. . . . . .
until the stript
sentences
move as a woman's
limbs under cloth
and praise from secrecy
quick with desire
love's ascendancy
in summer--
In summer the song
sings itself
above the muffled words--
-- William Carlos Williams
