Communion

The morning stretches coldly

an earth aching for tenderness

the sky reaching away

and even the birds are hidden

silently accepting the autumn's advance

After all that passion

how quickly the leaves fall from the trees

as grace falling from grace

the sudden surrender to the change

an adherence to the present

The tree says, 'Do you even know my name?'

And you realise your own stupor

in love with its beauty

yet without enquiry

Communion with no question

I shall be as the tree

and let go of my covering

All that I was has no use

All that matters is to be

this conduit between earth and sky

The Approach

The night presses in

like the blackest clay obscuring light

and imagine if this was how it was

forever

if the stars and the moon and the sun and the planets had gone

and we would know we soon would go also

become nothing

cease to be

and this is how it will unfold

and every night is a preparation

until the blackest clay obscures all light

and the infinite night begins