Monday morning, 6 AM

the geese came early
this morning, and loudly

already it was too gray a day
for the sun to make an appearance

the dogs, fractious still from being
pulled out into the dark and rain

growled up at the windows long after
the clattery troupe had passed

and moments later the rain
let loose and I with my umbrella

crept out the back door
into another day

© Sarah Whiteley

letters to _____ – i

I do not love you
in that way some have
of losing themselves
until there is no
retrieval of self
know instead I love you
in the way geese gather
and rise gray unto gray
their cries of high, high, high
that into silence fade
I love you in the way
that they in leaving feel
what has been left behind

© Sarah Whiteley