Evening closes on an
aging Summer, becoming airless
in white clouds earned by the
sun’s last glance – a final gasp
of dusk in pearl’s pink:
– time’s pallor fading
toward the autumn of my life –
here the closing moments of
long days and short nights
begin a final dance to equanimity
the evenness of night begging solace
from the promise of dawn, like
the loss I feel since you left – it
lays iridescent claim to my heart,
rains in places I can never reach:
light dimmed by nightfall-final say.

-edited- © K. James Ribble