A Poem: Curve

Originally uploaded by Hi, I’m G

Our dear Deborah’s father passed away unexpectedly last week, and she and her husband are dealing with another unexpected family illness. Our thoughts and prayers are with them at this time.

Wherever I look these days
something is leaving.
The wispy ash grass, its green
lost to the sun, sinks back to earth;
maples open handfuls of yellow and rust,
toss their farewell under bushes,
across sidewalks still shiny
from dew withdrawing its shawl.
On a limb a nest breaks apart,
disappears at the touch time makes
on the way from one loss to another.

Now words are clusters of dry weeds
without nourishment or sense,
their sounds mimic melodies once
known, forgotten like baby’s babble,
pleasure’s inflection outgrown,
worn by the world’s seasons.
At night starlight leaves little
of its dim past in a sky slowly
weathering black. Even in
my dreams since your death,
I meet myself running away.

–Annette Allen, from Women’s Uncommon Prayers: Our Lives Revealed, Nurtured, Celebrated
Photo by G, uploaded from Exponent’s Flickr group