JOYLESS
Ten Poems by Robert Plath

A summer afternoon in mid-October
contradicts my mind's ledger
cracked yellowed leaved in warm wind
pile up on sunny pavement--
my window is open, my intinerary changed
due to this pleasant lack of order
I trade my long coat for sheer delight
and run outside to find you
but the street is empty
your unsuspecting door closed.
Why is it that sometimes feelings arrive
so inconsequentially
like summer wind in Autumn
too late to save the leaf's departure
but enough to make the heart die for June?

(Poetrybay Spring 2001)