Days Are Ending Sooner

Dark outside the window. Nothing
Much to it — the world spins and tilts
Smoothly and quite predictably.

It’s autumn in this hemisphere.
The darkness arrives earlier
Every evening and will awhile.

You may never see it lengthen
Again, but you’ve seen it enough
Times to know just how it will go.

It won’t need you; you won’t need it.
Someday the light will just come back,
But you’ll likely be gone. You hope

That spring brings rejuvenation
To the child your death abandoned.

Push for Greater Trust

Trusting that the joy continues,
Will continue, come back, somewhere,
Is sometimes enough, sometimes not.

Depends on how you feel about
Now and the intermittent joy
Now is. Is the joy now enough?

If it isn’t, trusting will not
Be enough. Continuity
Needs to continue at greater

Frequency. Continuous joy,
Of course, would be plenty, and more
Than plenty, if perfectly joy.

Exactly how much more than now
Would imaginary future
Need in the way of joy, before

You can feel it’s enough to trust
Joy to carry on, not pure joy
But close enough, enough to trust?