milky way

river of stars
bridging ocean
and heavens
his ten thousand journeys
in this great blue world 

once he dreamed
of being an astronaut
the first to Mars . . . 
one turn led to another
and now he just dreams 

a trail 
of cabbage whites
across the meadow
cut grasses
will sprout again 

quiet now
as the swing soars
higher and higher
he plots the moment
to jump 

one by one 
a thousand colors
are set free
into the vesper wind
a mockingbird sings 

through all the seasons
it always comes to this:
the persimmon
blanketing the yard
with the last of its leaves

 
(The title comes from the poem of the same name by Edna St. Vincent Millay, which was first published in 1912.)