Leaves linger/the crepe myrtle seems a bit more burgundy/these slow autumn days/more like summer/sultry and full/make their way into my spirit/bracing winds and lemon scarlet blaze of light/whispers faintly in memory/as I slide on summer sandals and go

And sometimes/you will find/the hardest of all/waking up/knowing the empty places will never be filled/angry and amazed/that somehow you breathe on/sometimes you will hear/their voices still/beating in your head/and heart/get up/go on/go out/lift your eyes/ to the horizon/to the air and sky/whence cometh your help

There is this generation thing/that happens/you see roles passed/received/shoulders squared/arms strengthened/for the tasks of love

Together forever/free at last/sorrow remains/with the glimmering dawn/of peace

It is possible that friendship/matters most/on sunny carefree/life journeys/then again/the last walk/the last carry/the final look/touch/gaze/tear/word/at the edge/on the very edge/matters most

We gather/with one purpose/to comfort/finding there is comfort/in the closeness/engagement of contest/power/identity/we are/because of what we are and will not/be/not any other act of love diminished/the end of all this perambulation/is love

The hat seen on airplanes/through cities/and departures/arrivals/ I think once/our mothers/saw everything/under a brim/coyly glancing up/at a partially obscured/set of possible futures/on or off/I think I will take it off /and see/or on and see again/past the brim

Tomorrow/I will wear a hat in my travels/something I hardly ever do/why have an excellent hat/unused/never seen/tomorrow is an excellent day for the unseen to be seen/to get up and try/ something new

And some days/children come to church/to ask for prayer/for that which no child should suffer alone/I know for sure/we stand on Holy/ground

I stare/into my untended garden/of a morning/dappled light barely whispering the treetops/this bower encapsulating my tiny haven/when my eye spies a single leaf/floating in air/a graceful unlikely thing/full of impossibilities/slowly it twirls/disappearing on edge/tauntingly there again/as a stiff breeze shifts/the violent thread/ dances like a hanging thing/jerked and held in death/in the back of/my untended garden/it seems there is a giant sticky web/spun stealthily/to trap/those happy flitting passers by/I didn’t do it/ I cry/weakly/yet I make no move/none at all/no/none at all/ to set the captive/free