The Days are Getting Shorter Now

Photo by Stephanie Hanno Photography

A Poem by Aisling Cruz

and I wonder how much longer 

the leaves can hold on for want 

of light. Sweet aspens left 

shaking without tambourines, 

oak trees shedding ochre 

with a heavy sigh. All the forest 

wastes without their coats. 

A new orange will soon take 

over, a garish citrus, and I wonder 

how much taller the antler stack 

will reach. Above the roofing tin? 

Beyond the washed out deep? 

Tell me, God, where have 

you hidden the tambourines? 

The days are even shorter 

now, and I want for a psalm 

to remember the songbirds, 

how they broke every morning 

by the crux of their beaks, 

rending the furrows 

of a pale pink scroll. 

Their fluting still flutters 

through thistle and tree, 

sweet echoes of feathers 

falling as snow. I gather

the manna from heavenly 

wings, and wonder 

how all will be well.

Aisling Cruz is a Midwest-based poet and artist. Her work has appeared in Foreshadow, Gotham

Literature, Agape Review, and Oyster River Pages.