“Will wander restlessly when leaves are blowing.” ~ Ted Berrigan, from “Autumn’s Day”

Georgia O'Keeffe My Autumn 1929 oil on canvas — “My Autumn” (1929, oil on canvas)
by Georgia O’Keeffe

All Saints

It’s one day past the Day of the Dead, and this has been
a bad year, six funerals already and not done yet.
But on this blue day of perfect weather, I can’t muster
sadness, for the trees are radiant, the air thick as Karo
warmed in a pan. I have my friend’s last book spread
on the table and a cup of coffee in a white china mug.
All the leaves are ringing, like the tiny bells of God.
My mother, too, is ready to leave. All she wants now
is sugar: penuche fudge, tapioca pudding, pumpkin roll.
She wants to sit in the sun, pull it around her shoulders
like an Orlon sweater, and listen to the birds
in the far-off trees. I want this sweetness to linger
on her tongue, because the days are growing shorter
now, and night comes on, so quickly.

~ Barbara Crooker

Music by Matthew Perryman Jones, “Canción de la Noche”