are turning bad. What shall we do?Our neighbor says they’re not for her,and no one has a birthday near.We should thank someone for the blunder.Is one of us having an affair?At first we laugh, and then we wonder.The iris was the first to die,enshrouded in its sickly-sweetand lingering perfume. The rosesfell one petal at a…
You knew the groom from college.I was a friend of the bride.We hugged the brownstone wall behind usTo keep our dress clothes dryAnd watched the sudden summer stormFloodlit against the sky.The rain was like a waterfallOf brilliant beaded light,Cool and silent as the starsThe storm hid from the night.To my surprise, you took my arm–A…
Money, the long green,cash, stash, rhino, jackor just plain dough.Chock it up, fork it over,shell it out. Watch itburn holes through pockets.To be made of it! To have itto burn! Greenbacks, double eagles,megabucks and Ginnie Maes.It greases the palm, feathers a nest,holds heads above water,makes both ends meet.Money breeds money.Gathering interest, compounding daily.Always in circulation.Money….
Some other mockingbird will concertizeAmong the mulberries, and other vinesWill climb the high brick wall to disappear.How many footpaths crossed the old estate—The gracious acreage of a grander age—So many trees to kiss or argue under,And greenery enough for any mood.What pleasure to be sad in such surroundings.At least in retrospect. For even sorrowSeems bearable…
The flags unravel in the caterpillar’s feast.The wreaths collapse onto the stones they shade.How quietly doves gather by the gateLike souls who have no heaven and no hell.The patient grass reclaims its lost estateWhere one stone angel stands as sentinel.The voices whispering in the burning leaves,Faint and inhuman, what can they desireWhen every season feeds…
Once again you think of howCool the autumns were at home.Dressed as if you had just leftThe courtyard of the summer palace,Walk the boundaries of the park,Count the steps you take each day –Miles that span no distances,Journeys in sunlight toward the dark.Sit and watch the daylight playIdly on the tops of leavesGlistening overhead in…
Following their voices on the breeze,She makes her way. Through the dark treesThe distant stars are all she sees.They cannot light the way she’s gone.She make her way through the dark treesDown to the lake to be alone.The night reflected on the lake,The fire of stars changed into water.She cannot see the winds that breakThe…
Nor the night no sleep relieves, when memoryRepeats its prosecution.Nor the morning’s ache for dream’s illusion, nor any prayersImprovised to an unknowable godCan extinguish the flame.We are not as we were. Death has been our pentecost,And our innocence consumed by these implacableTongues of fire.Comfort me with stones. Quench my thirst with sand.I offer you this…
you read will make a difference today,or that the voices you might overhearwhen the wind moves through the yellow-greenand golden tent of autumn, speak to you.Things ripen or go dry. Light plays on thedark surface of the lake. Each afternoonyour shadow walks beside you on the wall,and the days stay long and heavy underneaththe distant…
Yet missed the photograph until I sawyour name among the headings.And there you were, looking almost unchanged,Your hair still long, though now long out of style,And you still wore that stiff and serious lookYou called a smile.I felt as though we sat there face to face.My stomach tightened. I read the item through.It said too…
