when evening falls

when evening falls and the air cruelly bites

and the hunter’s moon rides low in the sky

October winds sow feathery seeds

like fairy queens rich in promise of spring

and agates glisten in Gichi-Gami’s shallows

…

where gunmetal waves mound and crash

above the mid-lake’s fearsome depths, and

gales brew above its icy cauldron

too far from shore for eyes to discern

or warn those who brave it’s tempest seas.

…

waterfalls, tall cliffs and October colors woo,

while haunting siren calls of loons beckon,

its beauty deceiving those who swim its

frigid waters or disrespect Gichi-Gami with

small boats and capsize in killing swells,

…

lonely specters haunt its shores where gulls

wheel and shriek tall tales and

drowned ships litter uncharted bottoms.

still we dare take the great lake’s measure

e’en though our best years have weathered

…

our hair thinning and gray as Autumn’s

cloud-filled days, stirring memory’s

distant echo of children married

and wedding vows solemnly intoned

while October gazes silently on

…

before dreamed of futures flowed into

past, our lives racing through time

like leaves golden and scattered upon

grass, fall’s beauty a brief respite till

only barren winter remains to behold.

…

eyes closed, our hands tightly clasped

we brave the winds of change, our seed

long since sown, forgotten prayers

sung, October’s majestic features born

of sky, land and darkened sea fold

…

like origami figures of tissue bright

as your brown eyes in morning’s first

light or the fox squirrel’s ruffled

pelt when he dances atop

the maple’s tourmaline dressing.

…

sing my love a song solemn and

melancholic of life lived proudly

in October’s dappled shadow for

tonight is All Hallowed Eve and

tomorrow el dia de los muertos

…

our days numbered even if the

number remains hidden save to

the lonely stars above, so sing and

and fear not the coming brevity in

those hours remaining to be sung.