villanelle

asleep at the end of the world

I dream of autumn falling in Japan,

inchoate cold, decay in gold and red;

these dying months in unfamiliar land.

asleep under the willows in the sand,

the cherry blossom springs are in my head

but I dream of autumn falling in Japan.

you fold a yellow leaf into my hand;

it crumbles to a breath of dust instead:

these dying months in unfamiliar land.

one day, you say, we'll go there when we can,

I watch the changing colors from my bed

and dream of autumn falling in Japan.

the sky has lost its shine, grown pale and wan,

and heavy with the things we leave unsaid,

like dying months in unfamiliar land.

October steals into our room at dawn,

she whispers of the dreams we've drawn and bled.

now I dream of autumn falling in Japan:

these dying months, an unfamiliar land.