Waterfall

Drifting leaves, fire-painted,
Flutter along the jagged gravel—
Butterflies of autumn pressed onward
By the delicate fingers of the wind.
Thousands of these red tears
Glitter upon the path
That straggles through the garden
And lingers around the broken fountain
The sallow white basin,
Now cracked and covered
With faded moss,
Remembers the children who played
With its limpid waters.
In this graveyard of fleeting ghosts,
The inferno of leaves
Shapes a crimson waterfall
Over white stone

Kelee S. Peyton, age 14
Snohomish, Washington
Lakeside Middle School (Seattle)
Teacher: Alicia Hokanson
(2003 Teacher of the Year)