The Almanac of Last Things (Linda Pastan)

From the almanac of last things

I choose the spider lily

for the grace of its brief

blossom, though I myself

fear brevity,

                                   

but I choose The Song of Songs

because the flesh

of those pomegranates

has survived

all the frost of dogma.

                                   

I choose January with its chill

lessons of patience and despair – and

August, too sun-struck for lessons.

I choose a thimbleful of red wine

to make my heartrace,

                                   

then another to help me

sleep.  From the almanac

of last things I choose you,

as I have done before.

And I choose evening

because the light clinging

to the window

is at its most reflective

just as it is ready

to go out.

--Linda Pastan,                                  

The Almanac of Last Things      
  

In November, we remember all souls...

Image source:  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spider_lily#/media/File:Lycoris_radiata_spiderlily_higanbana_DSCN9322.JPG