meditation on dying

before the rain

before you settle

in for the night

you walk familiar streets

admire mowed lawns

limbs trimmed

stacked along curbs

waiting for the city

to haul away

_____

sweaty shirt

sticks to

back and belly

trees touch

arching green

over quiet streets

silence thrums

just before

cicadas roar

_____

kudzu pulls

roof and beam

of an old shed

no one

tells you

to come home

for supper

before street lights

come on

_____

in distant woods

where lichen blooms

owl warns the dark

it’s futile

to lament

this spinning

the dimming light

the setting

of a sun

8-24-20