My place on this Earth a
Foliage day in Autumn carries
A leaving of departure – the errant
Defenestration of owing my equinox.

To this unease I am the mismatch
Of a consoling wind, a cenotaph
Of skyloss to a sinking star as if
My birthright to a lover’s misgiving

Paints a fainted river asleep within me.
In this forest silence (an instant) now
My heart lays down beside you oblique to
A Canopy of Loss imposed by disbelief so

I re-lie on stones of our contentious gait
The over-stride of walking towards us, it
Takes me breathless, signifies sunrise
To my heart realized by your azure smile.

© K. James Ribble