Three Autumn Tanka

1

It is time for hawks
golden eagles plough the clouds
harriers in the marsh
we count kestrels overhead
a monarch sits in my palm

2

“Sharpy” over trees
flap flap flap glide head turns to see
flash burgundy eyes
never stray only one way
to go catch the wind go south

3

Green steel warrior
ruby-throated hummingbird
heart-whirring thread-tongued
wings fly at season’s command
brave brain remembers the roads

___

Now the Dark Rain

is a curtain that sweeps across the face
of the earth
like the robes
of angel Azrael
the one who assists us
with our passing

what am I to learn from this darkness

concealment
revelation
nothingness

I could say a knowing
falls like mercy
sweet and dark
as molasses

yet deep as the depths
of the deep-sea trenches
an invisible inner shimmering
no one can see from the outside

but I sense it
smell a glow
even in the cold and dark
a way of seeing
a way of being here
and elsewhere
a glimpse of passage

what is death but birth

a small stirring
toward the light