November hymnal (16)

October has its world afire
April the sudden bloom

May the maples set up their tents
knowing what they know

August the endless afternoons
January the hangover welcoming

the long haul ahead of March’s late snow
after February stiff arms you with winter

July the curling surf and sunburn and
the sweet magnitude of June

Oh June. September somehow
seems all seasons at once

except December’s definitive wince
But this month where nothing grows

or is saved nothing fully revealed save
absence absence of warmth absence of ice

In this space where there is nothing
To remember we remember gratitude

Translations from the English