"Enjoy the Silence"

I finish
in moonlight
praising impermanence
author of silence
and beauty

In daylight, the moon chases me to work like a filmy ghost. Chicory and goldenrod ending. My deaf dog adapts and so do we. Silence and a new flow.

Is your moon purple too? As it turns out, the owl was not simply passing though. At 3 a.m., he is a monk reciting prayers. I am no longer a penitent child nor am I the adult given to stubborn pretending. The monk, owl, and I are one, enjoying the silence.

I make coffee for Kyle before he wakes and tea for myself. As an early morning rainstorm builds, Kora and I sit beneath the overhang absorbing the spicy-sweet balm of October's first fallen leaves. Tomorrow is my solo trip, maybe pushing frontiers of sorts. A cedar loft, the great lake, pine trees and a million ways to say nothing at all.

It has been futile to say, “first I need to do this or work this certain thing out or live this certain way, then I will be free to live in peace.” So many excuses; so many ways to delay.

Too much noise passed between us on the air and in image. Love too, but peace? It couldn't stay until we left ourselves for dead.