"Solstice"

[As we ease from summer to autumn, our weather has turned introspective: both light and shadow are indistinct, the air is damp with soft light rain. Although we have only just passed the equinox, there seems an opportunity to publish this poem, and this collage with it.]

SOLSTICE

Mourning

dove’s call

under breath,

like a secret.

I open the door to rain.

The rain confides:

cool, wet;

meeting,

persuading to yield.

 

Oh monstrous

the secret

under the breath

of ease,

or retreat.

Persuade the monstrous

to breathe deeply,

then erode –

Make way

for the passionate rain.

[poem, 1990; image: collage, 2006, 7 x 6 inches
image and text copyright Ravenna Taylor]