Lost Melody

I opened my mouth
   to sing
 but only a wail
    rang out

a song
   too long held
 sours, it seems,
    fermenting
   inevitably
 into a scream

touch

this slender frame 
   cannot
      contain me


walls and miles 
   do not restrain
      my reaching 
             stretching
                   out
                 to gently touch
                       your heart


and I never return
unchanged.

once upon a time

it
is not.

it
never was.

how
then
do I feel
its loss?

  

September

there is an urgency
today
in the green
of the trees
behind my house

leaves so seriously
intent
on coloring
the cooling light
as it falls to the ground

as if they know
the nearness
of winter's
silver
silence