Vesper, November

The knees know it’s November,

Aching and creaky as the balding trees.

How long they will hold out

Is anybody’s guess, but I’m rooting

For them with the fervor

Of a venture capitalist bankrolling

A startup: Come on, baby,

You can do it! One step, two steps—

You’ve got this! There’s more

Dark than light these days, not so much

Metaphor as measure, though

This feeling that the curtains are closing

Is one I cannot shake. When I

Make the turn onto 40, the west is on

Fire, the burning ball of sun

Level with my eyes, gloriously blinding,

And as I struggle to keep

The truck between the lines I wonder

Whether anyone else is

Seeing this, whether anyone else has

The same desire to pull over

And step into the twilight chill to watch

This sea of golden clouds

Rust, flash electric then dull to gray

Before resuming the drive,

Body tight through the shoulders and tired

Of it all but wanting it to

Never end (come on, baby, you’ve got THIS),

Miles of night to go,

Headlights like stars guiding us home.

11/10/2023