solving for unseen variables
And today the sky reflects nothing.
An ocean of aspens, all grown
from a single source, quiver in the breeze
and remember nothing, no meaning
hidden beneath yellow-dampened leaves.
This morning cold, glimpsed as a ghost
gliding from shadow to shadow,
says nothing beneath its breath,
each exhalation raising frail bodies
of fog from forest duff. And footprints
where nobody has walked for years
lead deeper into the maze of trees,
toward a hushed trickle of water,
run-off from last night’s rain
carving a new memory, a new vein
of variables, rock exposed, only
to be forgotten by sunset. Still the sky
reflects nothing, offers only itself
as proof to an equation no one
has written, factors demanding this day
as the only possible solution.
