Dedicated to my brother

A mat of ice
covered the ground,
little crystals
resting together.
Undiluted cold
Undiluted beauty.

But the ice can’t
escape evaporation.
As the mat falls
apart,
snow becomes a pile
of white soil,
soiled by the everyday,
the dogs, the people.

Oh, I hate to say goodbye

Snow gives way
to overhanging clouds
and raging rain,
as the hyacinths
burst forth for air.

Lavish Violet
Creamy White
Deep Pink
Color the wind.

Until they are drowned,
leaves crumble,
and the stems hide underground.

Oh, I hate to say goodbye

Then that orb
ascends in the sky,
melting the pavement,
burning the fragile feet
of shoeless innocence.

Until higher education
begins to call
and the sun
loses battle
against the moon
and the cold,
till the pavement
no longer melts.

Oh, I hate to say goodbye

Then dusty smoke fires
and pumpkin spices
become nature’s perfumes,
as green succumbs
to brighter colors
littering the grass
in piles of
jagged shapes.

And you leave
off on an adventure,
a hunt for
something,
your own
arrangement of stars,

leaving me here,
Alone,
to fend for myself.
While you’re in the new world
I’m stuck in the old.

Oh, how I hate to say goodbye

Through winter, spring, summer, and fall,
oh, how I hate to say good-bye.
I miss you