Leaves fall, blazing.

Fortune’s wheel; zeniths and nadirs.

De Casibus. Downfall. Comedown.
Lucifer’s fall, wings clipped.

“Hurled headlong flaming

from the Ethereal Sky,” sings Milton.

Fall of man; original lapse. 
Down the rabbit hole, Alice.

Horatio’s vertigo on tower’s edge:

“The very place puts toys of desperation /

Without more motive, into every brain.”  
From imagination’s heights.

blind Gloucester’s pratfall.
Hanged man’s fall, to end of rope.

The jumper’s from Trade Center,

tumbling; from fire into void.

Icarus’s, with melting wings.

The runner’s, tripped by root.
Galileo’s Law. Dropped together,

a feather and hammer (air resistance, excepted)

should hit the ground at once.
The tandem skydive from 15,000 feet.

Neophyte and instructor are

harnessed together for dear life.

Goggles for wind.  Jump suits rippling.

For 60 seconds “more like flying than falling,”

before ripcord’s pull; then five minute’s

float to ground.   
On Youtube, headset cams record

two daredevils in gliding suits.

They leap, one after the other,

from a mountain peak into updrafts,

soar down over cliffs and ridges,

until far below a valley greatens.

Leonardo’s dream turned sport.
Flight is careful falling.  
Bungee cord’s elastic limit,

rescue’s heave, then down,

then up, resilience fading.
Falling in love.

Fallen soldiers; civilizations.

Dow falls, stocks lessen.  
The precious bowl, escaped,

turns in mid-air beyond reclaim.
Our planet drifts, spinning.

Astronauts ricochet from padded walls.  
The Runner picks himself up;

walks stiffly, keeps jogging.
The fallen king discovers

wisdom, humility, compassion.
Springs buds return.
My wife revises, “Down will come baby, cradle and all”

to “Down will come baby, into Mommy’s arms.”