September
–Dee LeRoy
Each year the tilt toward fall
surprises:

Earth’s night turning from its Milky Way
toward dimmer worlds

sapphire sky pale to dark
pooling over hills

tinting aster and ironweed
the last morning glory whose indigo petals
open around a star.

A tree that looks green drops a yellow leaf
and afternoon’s blue deepens around it

as if what is lost remains close
to cushion descent.

One by one the days shorten.

Photo by Kai Pilger on Unsplash