I feel my life tonight—

the weight, the textures.

There is no wisdom to create

an escape, no simple design

to relieve the recurrent terror.

Outside the wind grabs the trees

by the hair tossing them about

in an ecstatic frenzy.

I step into the growing night

and listen to the trees whip

the pale sky into the dark.

What control I thought I had

flees from me, abandoning

the promise of the light to come.

(April 11, 2022)