In my creative writing course, we all wrote a peom modelled after The Thought Fox by Ted Hughes. This is what I came up with.

I stare at the blankness
The blankness stares at me
I hear the clock’s tired whisper
And my quiet breaths.

Outside, cold air ushers people inside
And autumn leaves hover
Clinging to branches for their meaningless lives
Until one falls
And falls
And falls

I stretch my fingertips
Sure I will catch it
Nearly there, nearly there
Until a gust of wind whisks it away
And it falls
And falls
And falls away.

And I look back at the page
Stare at the blankness
As it stares back at me.

© Sohini Kumar