In The Autumn Air


Look
the sky

how it runs
across the fields
the farm and
the grain
and beyond
to places
I have never seen

here
within once-white fences
around the house and barn
wisps of October clouds
fall from view
obscured by
the corn and the flowers
the crows and the morning dew

only to return
in the echoes
of forbidden truths
whispered in the half-light
of the waning year

when strangers
set to beacons
and mark the countryside
igniting the remains of the harvest
nourished by the sweetness
of the apple bough
the untamed heart
the child's hand
weaving the sun
in reckless ways
until the world dissolves
consumed
in the desperate light
at the end of the day

the screen door opens
birds flee the fiery grass
never to return
the press of wings around me
as I move out
into the autumn air