Yellowing leaves
       against a pale blue sky
a gentle easterly wind
       barely enough to chill
the simplicity of sunshine
       illuminating all things

Last night at moondusk
       I thought of you
your thin auburn hair
       your pale skin
your dream-weary eyes
       your ungainly beauty

Just now a sparrow sprang
       from within a thicket
irrepressible life
       each moment lived
as though it were the first
       and the last

rough odes hewn
       from seamless words
the formalities of the sonnet
       and blood that longs
to create so as to proclaim
       that through the turbulence
through all the trials
       and tribulations nothing
fades from this universe
       love least of all

John Lyons