The Reckoning
by Terri Lynn Cummings



Curls unfurl into spring
and gardens sprout children –
all with stories of their own
like bees and dreams and streets

The teeth of summer
hone their bite on staring skin
and a hustle of wind
from the billion candles of childhood

Sunlight shimmies down willows
and falls into shapes
like eyebrows raised in question
or thumbs hitching a ride to autumn

Showers of color ebb and flow
heady and sharp like flames of fire
Spines of wood empty the page
and clear a path for creation

Sleep straddles the sled of winter
dons the meaning of every change
hails a race of thrift and drift
to the dark prize of homecoming

Curls unfurl into spring
and gardens sprout children –
all with stories of their own
like bees and dreams and streets

Change rattles in pockets and purses
adds the sum of every season
while promise demands my patience (aloof)
and hoes the long lane to heaven





Illya's Honey Literary Journal

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