Stopping by woods on a sunny evening

Interrupted greenness laps at a concrete shore.

Pines conical

Squat bushes like smudged thumbprints

ubiquitous ferns with a grace of lowness

No single berry or petal resides

Birds are gone or struck dumb

I am stopped in this nondescript time and place

out of fatigue, tension, and the chewing of unpalatable thoughts

on this long and lonely trip home.

The idiot noise of the highway derby buzzes by.

I regret that I must rejoin it soon.

But I sit and sip some coffee.

Things have a vital brightness here.

Each is a home unto itself.

There is permanence, potential.

The verdant perfume of forgetfulness.

Please…I…tell me what is needed, this day.

So things can be set right.

Please oh please.