All the Crossing Branches

All the crossing branches

Holding up the indigo sky

Incremental lightening

To blur-grey mist.

*

Golden interior light

Throwing out a tentative glow into the darkness,

assuming a hazy aura before the limit of its reach.

*

Mechanicals.

Ticking of the kitchen wall clock,

Hum of the refrigerator,

Whirr of the basement fan,

Whoosh of the furnace igniting,

Galumph of the percolator,

Added to the gnawing scrape along a dog’s bone,

And the metallic clinking of collar tags.

*

The landscape is mostly a figment of the imagination.

Suddenly, a bird chirps loud and strong

and flutters in the shelter of the eaves.

And the rooster begins its AM crowing.

The ground appears.

The branches are anchored to trunks and roots.

We all are.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All the Crossing Branches was originally published on Medium in The Lark on December 29, 2023