I can feel
a coldness creeping in
to your heart,
like early mornings
in late summer.
I can see your eyes
drifting in,
like an abandoned ship
sitting on calm waters.
What is this?
Is it time to let
the forests of yesterday
burn?
Turns out
the only way
for new growth to take hold
is in the ash lands.
Heaven help me,
I know you feel it, too.
Just a little thing,
a few degrees cooler
than it was yesterday.
I watch your face turn away
and I find mine
doing the same.
It’s as if we both
have had
mid-summer dreams,
but now the curtain’s closing
on this scene.
I’m afraid to lose you.
Are you afraid to lose me?
What comes next
could be anything.
I reach out,
amid this
endless breath
and I find your hand
reaching out for mine.
Our palms find each other,
fingers wound around
in desperate grip
that screams without volume.
Something warm
in the freshness of the morning.
Sun, slow climbs
as the worm turns over.
This water
won’t stay still forever,
just as the ashes
must soon yield new growth.
We may drift away
in the autumn breeze,
but we will never
drift apart.
DJR – 2023
