HAYWIRE (Winter 2013) | Page 6

HAYWIRE Issue 2 Fall 2013 Painting by Peter Ki, 12th grade BLINK OF AN EYE STEADY DECAY GOLDEN MAN by Livia El-Khawad, 11th grade by Leah Goodman, 9th grade by Jakob Eckardt, 11th grade Open your eyes there is a beautiful scene. The trees are topped with thousands of red velvet hats and yellow spotted caps. Letting them float to the ground without making a sound. The trees are dancing to the fresh icy breath of death, with no pause, with no rest. Tenderly, their bittersweet hues clutter the welcoming earth. the inevitable call of Autumn. Warmly tinted petals cradled by the last of the fresh summer blades and they all plummet down. He lived his life learning, From young on ‘till old, And lived his life yearning To turn knowledge to gold. Day after day it breathes on, the trees are robbed of their last warmth. It comes when none notices, with the blink of an eye it’s over leaving only coldness. Their shy feet scamper, across a frozen orange littered ground. And their gloved hands clench tighter until the colour washes from their limbs. Their chapped lips fold, and gently start to smile, as the leaves once again tumble to the tempo of their falling hearts. But why is matter pulled down by gravity captivating to the human eye? And how could we possibly stop the lovely falling matter from slow deterioration to winter? He was taught to study, And studied to learn, But when work would end, Was of his concern. He grew to be wealthy, To buy himself time, To end up with more gold, The longer the climb. To work is to live, To learn is to grow, But what do you work for, The farther you go? The man worked for gold, So he could settle down. But it wasn’t the gold, But the knowledge he found. What matters is that the days get darker, and steadily fade to a point of no vision. And whether we try or not, beautiful decay is growing near. 6