Waiting

Summer is ending, so begins fall I am scared that the season will begin at all Surrounded by people, and flinch at a call Sit in a dark room with a chair at the wall Should be outside with a rake and raking Here inside at work and waiting Home alone lying in bed This month I lost my only friend To a painful and abrupt end Wake up in the morning and hear that he’s dead Should be in the kitchen with cake that’s baking Here inside at work and waiting. Halloween comes with trick or treat Or go to a party with people to meet To creep and crawl with silent feet And grope and fumble in darkness deep Concentrate on something making Here inside at work and waiting Thanksgiving with my new family November passes quite rapidly Together with turkey, peas and tea Advent begins in a cold grey sea Winter is now and its breaking I’m home inside at work and waiting In December the birth of the son of God I must remember what in his life he taught Then sort the teachings out from a dark fog Because Christmas is love not at all macabre The frost grows on the lawn outside this morning At the window inside at work and waiting Happy New Year that begins with a seven The angels above call down from heaven To the earth below and meadows and oceans Like the dough that sowed and rises when leavened The days are short and nights sedating In the kitchen alive at work and waiting Is the vast bleakness a harbinger of Spring When nature sets forth its most beautiful things That grow quietly without sounds or rings Or move about at night under moonlight scenes With equal days and nights the equinox brings The time flies by without break or sating Here at work at home and waiting