Memento

MEMENTO

A mist of rain
Hides the Autumn moon
Like a stream of promises
Obscuring true desires

I sit in an empty bed
Cloaked in the sound of steady dripping

I close my unread book,
Switch off the lamp
And turn to sleep alone

In the middle of the night
I get up and sniff
The breezy sleeve
Of the Spring shirt
I wore as I once walked with her

Hoping to steal some fragrance
To soothe the Autumn thoughts
That press in my chest
Till all hours of the mornings
Until the sky grows light again

Only her promises remain
To stretch the empty bed months even longer
As spiders weave their webs
Above my head

2001
from: October Meditations

© George H. E. Koehler, 2010