poem 026: nostalgia crescent

the kids leave the fire
and i sneak outside
to hold time with the midnight embers

wooed by the moon
and that sleepover feeling
a sliver of youth i can still remember

here i mourn the disappearance of june
and the turn of the page via bob seger
the too-soon gray of inevitable november

but hark! there’s a chorus of frogs
and dewy footsteps tracked by stars
as i gather more wood to offer the embers