Reticent

two days of wind

breaking from the west

along wings of warmer places

as winter precipitates watercolor into a

day-lit memory of sandstone roses

cast adrift in the lagoon

wooly dust on the scales of juniper fruit

cold meltwater bends the stilted grasses

barely clutching dry leaves

to the north vases of river birch

don't ask the same questions

the mangroves now do

so weathered and rain bare

they don't answer to each other

the wind some brutal treasure

testing the heart of tall pines

as tea flowers fall in the garden

the same lights and sequence

of each year passing

the land is humming in waves

salt flats parch what strives to live

a forest sits curled on dissolving stone

as the dark grows sharp and warm

if only for the night

at the far side of dusk

sea and sky alight for each other

sungods in exile

reticent mirrors

dancing