In the twilight of the night, in the rain-fog
at summer’s edge, when the skunk comes
amble-burrowing in the compost heap

for scraps of marrow to deep to suck from bone,
when the rain comes on the cement porch steps,
a-pat-it a-pa-tit a-pat-it,

when the skunk runs rumba to its rhythm
and off into the night to burrow
and it is safe from the rain and the darkness,

and when the wind laments for the passing
of a pine, fifteen years young, a sapling!
with the readiness of apologies,

in the chroma obscura of dimness
in the haze of sweet evening,
inside it…

_____

Adam Al Sirgany attended Knox College and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. He currently lives in the greater St. Louis area where he is a teacher, tutor and street musician. His scholarly pursuits include intense staring at blades of grass; his roguish misdemeanors include picking them for whistles.