An oblong moon
shines through the thin clouds
seeping southward across the sky.
Not one leaf
moves among the dark silhouettes
of oak, locust and birch
between the barn and garage.
A single star, Mars perhaps,
or the mirage of one shaped by satellite,
shines through the thin linen of pre-dawn sky
above the dim glow of Saint Joe toward the east.
We sit for a while on metal seats,
rest ceramic mugs on the pallet of landscape blocks
that the heat of Kansas summer
and my busted ribs
kept us from working into the shape
of plans we’d made in cooler days.
Work waits in many forms
on this first day of fall classes,
and if time passes a while longer
and a flowerbed is still unfinished
when cold weather comes,
it will be of little effect, really.
There are such moments as this
when hot coffee
and the quiet beauty of God’s still morning
shared in the refreshing softness
of a moon’s pale circle fringed with orange
is our purpose.
H. Arnett
8/17/11
Reflections by Doc Arnett 