October Opalescence

The wind scatters red leaves against the blue,
October opalescence of the air;
This animate surround may well imbue
Them both with an intensity; he’d dare
To imagine the forest in her smile:
It seems to capture every twitching leaf,
Yearning to take the plunge into exile
With other fallen heroes who lived brief,
But happy lives all summer; and now lurch
Towards their end in heaps that may well tempt
A pair of lovers, flirting by a birch;
In sylvan landscapes tell me who's exempt
From falling down together; does it matter
When beds are piled leaves for winds to scatter?