heavier now

heavier now

the green,

has accepted its fold

into a yellowed end;

tawny decay,

aflame at the edges.

unstoppable.

night reels

heavier now,

smudging the afternoon.

moody and muddied

before dinner has passed,

night knowing

its need to close around us.

this is the cold coming,

the bandage of the dark months,

when dawn shivers,

each of us closing in

like soft lights at fade.

we can be extinguished,

until sweet, soft rain

returns the bulbs.

we sleep,

as they sleep;

unseen, unbidden.

we have lost our sense of repair.

the time of the season,

long since usurped,

as we are pushed face-first

into a frenzied avarice,

a Black Friday bloodlust

set to a backdrop of carols,

both pious and doleful,

as many of us forget

to respect the rhythms

alive around us.