come
the lights are fading –
last year’s hay is in the barn
lines are drawn
and still I grieve
the comfort
of your arms

come
while yet
the lantern glows
yellow on the fields
rest your heart
against this lowly one

I won’t ask
the reasons –
goodbye was not for long
awaited me a season –
just as strong

as we tarried
with beginning
making moments of our past
forgotten every ending
we had planned

who’s afraid
of dying
when living rides
the fence –
where stillness blows
from long ago
the same

come
the church bells ringing
as they were
for yesterday
we worried for our passions –
debts to pay

stay
but for a lifetime
lest moths consume
the flame
– or ashes
quell the silence –
to wonder why
we came

mercury
is rising
constellations
crowding now
ribbons tied by living –
weave me into you
somehow