The Particular Tilt of the Earth (at this time of year)
Margaret King
The particular tilt of the Earth right now
In the early fall
Allows the setting sun to piece light through the blazing maple trees
The ones we can see from our living room windows
So green in summer we don’t even think of them
Until now or until their leaves fall off
And we no longer have a natural screen between
Us and the rest of the world
If marriage is a perpetual dance
Of spinning toward each other and then apart again
Then we’re just orbiting ourselves
Rather
Please just let me find my way back to you
Over and over again
Through the deer path of your heart
That only I know
Thistles that grow thick to obscure and protect
The delicate rabbit with the quick-beating heart
Deep within and burst into wish fluff
At this time of year
So many wishes
To release on the wind
The Queen Anne’s Lace
That, tightly-bunched
Hides the sleeping caterpillar inside
These secrets only I know