Tell me again why
 
I need to make this journey
 
through autumn’s darkness.

 
 
 

October sorrow—
 
watching the hunter’s moon slip
 
back into darkness

 
 
 

Ashes mixed with tears
 
the day the Twin Towers fell—
 
September darkness.

 
 
 

White paper, black ink—
 
deeper and deeper a crow
 
sinks into darkness.

 
 
 

Night of the new moon—
 
I stumble in the darkness
 
on my homeward way.

 
 
 

From the sun I learn
 
a narrative of darkness;
 
from the raven, light.

 
 
 

before the first stars
 
were strewn across the heavens
 
darkness deep and wide

 
 
 

Unlighted lantern—
 
a luna moth shrinks its wings
 
to fit the darkness.

 
 
 

Five a.m. darkness—
 
eager to hear the first bird,
 
I jump out of bed.

 
 
 

Darkness and thick smoke
 
swirling in my morning joe—
 
autumn turns to ash.