SEPTEMBER LIGHT

                 SEPTEMBER LIGHT

Harvest moon beat me back

to the beach this year,

but I was rewarded

by the return of the wild sea oats,

absent all last season.

This morning, costumed in muted gold,

they dance in mystic light

that’s cleansed of summer sluggishness,

while Monet and Manet

brush rapid strokes of yellows and greens,

frantic to capture on so large a canvas

this special light before it fades.

And when of many morrows I read these lines,

I will not be in the same state of exaltation,

but I will have a black-and-white reminder

of that late September light.

                    September 16, 2003