a stillness

overhead geese
 calling
         
apples falling from branches

then once more

silence

I returned 
to the old books
because
I could not remember
their stories

what a decade does

the characters
so very different

I could not
reread the pages
I had once found
myself in

what decade does

time
unfolding

flower buds 
then petals

time unfolding
   
it is time
moving to dust

time, unfolding backwards

am i the dust
petal

time

how it
curled , the thin smoke.
  
moving from a chimney,       
just so.

the wind brought the scent of
your hair

and with it the colors of evening.

no one says to the cool rain,
“show me how to rejoice.” 

children’s laughter
and bird song

wildly, wildly 

the tide is high
or low

the ocean is
the same

sky: gray
earth: gray
road: gray
now gray is darker
now gray is night