An Autumn Morning

A time will come to us
When these children run away.
Over the horizon and gone
To the lands of their own lives.

What shall we do then?

Shall we wake up suddenly
One autumn morning, wishing
For the comfort of strangers?

Will we be aliens to each other?
Strange unknowable creatures
Whose actions are incomprehensible
And more than slightly disgusting.

Or maybe there will still be
An ember to tend into flame
An old familiar welcoming fire
Where we can still warm old bones.