Two Triolets In September
Bright wasp-stings of light, yellow afternoons
that summer has given, October soon takes
with her quarrel of grackles and pale hunter's moon;
a wasp-sting of cold on a yellow afternoon.
Ferry winds will carry the gold leaf-wing soon.
Forgotten the spinner, the empty web breaks
with a wasp-sting sigh on a yellow afternoon.
What today has given, tomorrow soon takes.
So came the soft touch so soon to be lost
that folds poppies' faces to green nodding skulls,
sealing their seed-thoughts til the first killing frost,
in that last soft light so soon to be lost
where I dance alone with a fluttering ghost
with summer's warm vices consumed and annulled,
with scent of soft smoke so soon to be lost
and the red poppies' faces turned to green skulls.
September 2024
posted for Word Garden Word List~Autumn
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Images: Oriental Poppies, 1928, © Georgia O'Keefe
Poppies in seed, via internet. Fair Use
