the leaves have dropped
burnt out finally after
the last conflagration
and the fog drifts in
most mornings now
a shroud for ashen skies
hangs about sometimes
until noon even
days like this call
for extra cups of coffee
with an extra spoon of sugar –
something hot and sweet
to cup chilled hands about
a talisman against graying days
and the sooner dark
thoughts of you
were once my August
in the icy weeks to come
now I have the warmly
snoring bodies of dogs
and extra doses
of coffee the color
of 5 AM in December
© Sarah Whiteley
ebbtide 
There is something about this time of the year when the darkness comes all too soon and the cold seems to reach under the skin that makes that extra up of coffee seem necessary…wonderful poem.
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yay! the fog DOES last till noon and it DOES take extra dog-colored hot coffee to get through it. this is so apt and rich! slurp.
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some days coffee is my salvation… 🙂
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A melancholyish and enjoyable one, Cheers Sarah 🙂
Peace to you,
Laz
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so pleased I can manage to be enjoyably melancholy… I think not everyone can manage that 🙂 Cheers, Laz!
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I love the line….”now I have the warmly snoring bodies of dogs”…and “coffee the color of 5am in December”…..all paints such a wonderful picture!
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I love the way you paint images that I wouldn’t normally think of. thoughts of you/were once my August/ in the icy weeks to com and of coffee the color/of 5 AM in December
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That’s one of the nicest comments I think I’ve had, Val. That’s EXACTLY what I think poetry ought to be – finding the words to portray things in a way others may not have thought of. 🙂
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Oh what a conclusion, coffee the colour of 5 AM in December. What a rich final image for this lament.
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