Autumn Night (Tanka Sequence)

one by one
drops from this middle-aged face
soak the page
I have nothing to offer
but sweat, tears, toil, and blood

I feel something
inside me fraying
something I've draped
my dreams in --
the chill of autumn dusk

as night deepens
dark secrets emerge
and gnaw at my heart
I cut it open
with the scalpel of words

nothing
in the inner chambers
of my heart
except scattered memories
and Lego blocks of words

gazing up
at the full moon
I offer a full cup
to entice her --
this autumn has come to me alone

February 2010 issue of LYNX