harvest stones as you find them

their shades of gray

mirror the clouds above the ridge

place them as bouquets

upon all the graves where rest

the dead the dead the dead

the buried moments the lost years

the thrown-away lives

these limned by hastened time

your bones become rocks

your eyes blackened coal

these line the forgotten trails

hurry now

pay attention

wake up

when it winds through the trees

glides across the grass on the hillside

knocks against the crops in the field

does it repeat the gossip overheard

from the birds that gather on the wire

translate the busy chatters

barked by any scurry of squirrels

or even drop trivial tidbits

retrieved from human conversations

perhaps none of these, and it is silent

with no need to do anything other

than be the wind

train tracks a slick of light

streaking into the endless moment

undersides of brush usually penumbral

aglow with invitation to transform

metallic discards made ornaments in the road

bright as fallen pieces of daybreak

what wonders surround the ordinary present

what brilliance can be always found

sky finally lightened

air outside cooler, made damp

by gauzy fog and the steady trickle from sodden leaves

here and there purple blooms

evanescent, half-hidden in green variations

too shy to trumpet their colorful mien

in contrast to dirt-gray storm debris

washed from ditches’ overflow

two startling specks of scarlet in the street

a pair of cardinals at morning play

the plaintive calls of turtle doves

soon overridden by the clockwork cries

of Canadian geese on their scheduled flight

all these an answer, a sufficient reply

every moment is enough

smoke and ash haze the sky

their murk a blind concealing the sun

nothing new in this fire

the world has always burned

even in the coldest ice

knowing this

do we see only the flames

or choose to rest and look beyond

to the clear light from the moon and stars

our own awareness as it abides

the house falls around us

walls collapsing one by one

roof-beams so rotted they cannot hold

flooring derelict beyond repair

still we turn our faces away

choosing to ignore each crash

our eyes fixed in rabid gaze

on the dirty mirror where we think we live

and in our disordered ignorance

everything glitters with fake tawdy shine

ground overhung with fog and drip from trees

all light subdued and noise muffled

the lone volunteer pink rose now decimated

replaced by a pale white glory more fitted to the hour

tracks uncharacteristically silent

the railroad corvids yet to convene

until after the train’s blasting rumble

detritus trail their reason to gather

the stream beside the field similarly uninhabited

its usual raft of ducks absent

its murmur now audible without their squawk and paddle

an accompaniment to the huff of my dog

rainbow-hued ribbon of birdsong

curling through branches and along rooftops

a threaded brightness pointing beyond

to the ever-present light of the sun

I followed the talk

the chatter and clack among them all

and saw it unfold from the sodden field

there it was, in stark shades of black and gray

upon the rusted brown rails

themselves the color of old blood and unresolved grudges

not a murder, but something far worse

an unkindness on the tracks

I watched in silence for only a short while

then quietly walked away

taking care that I left unseen, unheard, unnoticed

I had enough regret that weighed me down

my own rude unfriendly acts

that chilled like poison I had given myself

so did not need their critical eyes or sharp attention

my own bitter burden would suffice

this knowledge of my small small heart

let me do better

in the body’s dissolution

when water can no longer sustain

will you miss your tears

they arrived as heralds

for your sorrows, for your joys

for your angers and frustrations

and signified that you lived

salted as the primordial sea

their sting and burn called you back

back to ancient beginnings

back to your original self

back to your corporeal moment

when your time of dying arrives

and the stage of dryness occurs

let all these go

relax in assurance

they are never lost forever

but join in the vast illimitable flow