along with the mist

silent retreat

october twenty-twenty two

monchique

*

silence

to you

closer than you

morning raindrops on

the round black stone

in front of my hut

gleam

*

they sing

tiny birds

they let the weight of darkness go

along with them we attain

the palest point of the day

*

why even come here

where does the road go

no longer questions

how unquenched

i could have reached

the nowhere i never left

questions

this wooden hut

lost in the woods

your home of now

*

without trace

the face of age

the face of childhood

in dense rain

eyeing the face of time

*

the voice

a nobody’s words

rumbling these hills

calling the cedar back

vanished in the mist

you

*

rolling hills reappear

washed by night rains

entwined country roads

no movement in sight

beyond

this sliver of blue

*

silence

presence

where things abide

moving through me

through rock

stillness of trees

their breath

this tremor

*

remote houses

scattered across the hills

call and a response

dogs barking

echo in the valley

it is alive

*

carry october to its end

their own end

to live and die in a robe of scent

what is it

white roses in the hedge

*

green mountains

in the midst of autumn

where is autumn going

*

your reason to be

what else than

to feel the morning breeze

brush against your face

*

breakfast

all at the table

the persimmon on my white plate

gazes softly at me

flames of a fading sun

emptiness abloom

*

uncertain

the prey mantis' pilgrimage

across the hilly road

*

within the waves

in-between

the mind

sitting

with what is

just

*

night sky

the toad

squats on stony stairway

watches

stars falling