The slow autumn presses
at the window,
as geese give a melancholy voice
to leaving
their dark v-shape
splitting a cloudless sky
the sun spreads
a quiet space
of tangerine orange
and rosy pink
as it slips below the horizon
when darkness closes in,
stars shiver
in the distance
ghosts perhaps since
some have died
the moon’s shimmer follows
the river’s winding path
until
complacent river in lament
mingles with powerful sea
ending and beginning
combined in poignant
harmony