foundation

Without a doubt beauty will

leave, without a pause it may

all go away, snuffed out

in an instant, altered in

the angles, heaven heavy upon

every crown, broken branch and

bent bough, the burden 

hurled up cradle and all,

the slow strike of scratched out

lightning across the lot of 

all this sparkle and pitch.

The world waves goodbye to

the luckless and the foolish,

the foot dragging along

the floorboards, the foundation shifting 

beneath each ache.

Oh root, oh revel— let summer

uncoil through soil and stone 

following the flower to the fruit,

merciless sunlight beating down

burnishing each burden

with a failing flourish,

the mindful moment 

disbursed as heat and light.