Remains of Summer, Mary #3

(poem three from a possible Concrete Mary series)

Seven days remain of summer

one week, a quarter of a moon before

daylight gives way to night, before

solstice haunts the dark, before

the snow, before the ice, before

the earth tilts away, before it’s too cold to fly

butterflies and bees will suck the last of sweetness

Gaunt tree looms grey among the living,

waits to sleep upon wooded ground

lichen will have somewhere new

to bloom in spring; nothing ever dies

Today, the sun warms Concrete Mary’s gown

outstretched hands gather light

her face becomes a moon

9-14-20