The Found Pressed Leaf

Inside of Deuteronomy, I found you.
Maple, I supposed, though botany defeats me.
Your flattened face a reminder of a Summer passed.
I wonder when the hand that put you here
Came last before I found you in this book.
When was your scriptured prison cast.

In gone Autumnal splendor you set down to mark,
a passage to the solstice Yule in colors flamed.
Thrilled wonder at the day when frond was stored,
Set in the dark, in plane of paper fixated
Until the moment when at verses turning,
The leaves were riffled to show the leaf adored.


Stuart Andrew Marshall Tanner