November Morning Storm

Overcoming
the ascendant sun,

dark clouds
fill the world.

They nearly scrape
our tallest trees

barely clearing
low delta hills

gray folds flush
the new day clean

New rivers rush
through empty streets

driving deep
into compliant earth.

Thus derided and left for dead,
the sun abides its golden birth.

October Evening

Tart wine on my tongue
the memory of warmth
in the cold autumn night
nearly gone.

I see myself
in the naked window
watching me,
ghost glaring
at my uncurtained face

falling,
dissolving in darkness
dim trees
whispering rumors
of impending winter.

I watch and wait.

The glowing clock,
my calm friend,
calls me off to bed
again.

Sunflowers

up this steep grade
to the  high rocky ridge

the sunflowers sway
in the cold autumn wind

like weathered grand-dames,
gowned in grey lace

they stiffly resist
their slow fall from grace,

and fiercely they cling
to the thin, rocky dust,

stubborn, still in love
with adulterine lust.

 

image at http://www.redkettle.com/images/products/contemporary-canada/rock-sunflowers.jpg

Dolour

The sun has gone.

Night resumes its dark song
longing for stars, reaching
for the rapture of eternity.

You wait so far away,
in your own private night;

I feel your fear trembling
like fitful autumn wind
rushing through my eves,
filling my garden
with the spent leaves
of youthful summer.

I know you wait in his dim room,
curtain pulled, tv on,
door discretely ajar
as you watch him sleep.

I wish I could help,
and pray
the perfect prayer,
conjure God out of the night
and force the miracle of morning.

But God is silent,
His will is not known,
and my prayer
impotent.

So I send you this poem,
to sing you
my tears.

I can offer nothing more
than a brother's love.

Shattered Night

I hear the trees sing
their whispered hymns of praise
to the moon
lingering high
over bowing, bright branches,

when exploding past
glaring red lights,
angry motors and anxious sirens
shatter this sacred night.

But still I wait,
and at last I hear
that voice,

the small, soft voice
that says
"I am."