Flood of tears,
pool of tears,
lake of tears
for a forgotten spring,
a dead summer and a dying fall.
Lake Dorian has returned
with the late fall rain.
The sun seasons are over and
the winter of fog
and rain has homed
like a loosened pigeon
first circling a fast pass
turning the leaves Halloween colors.
The wings of the second pass
will blow the dropping leaves
into the gutters,
patios and swimming pools.
Each a reminder of a season finished
and a warning of the bleakness
of the next passover.
And when winter
is perched over everything
Lake Dorian will be full of salted water.
When did winter become so bleak?
Rain water as salty tears
and fog a blanket of grief
were not the gloomy icons of my youth.
Nor was I saddened by Halloween's falling leaves
when my children were young.
Perhaps it is because Lake Dorian
reminds me of a kindergartner of years
ago who is gone like the sun seasons.
Or maybe I watch the circling
of wings as a omen
of my own coming winter.
The pigeons are too soon home to roost.