The Dimming

I waste for the wading,

the word-swim to catch

a meaning ripe enough

to hold me through the night.


My eyes unfocus in the middle

distance, somewhere caught

between the green and gray—maple

and oak on evening—floating

over frog-song in the dimming.

The wind speaks, but not to me.


The shadows here will flash

and swim with finches in the morning,

tawny gold or bright—fallen stars

on the lawn—as dandelion seed germs, dives

even now for life.


Perhaps tomorrow I’ll wake

and know what the wind meant.