There’s a quiet velvety hush
this time of year
when nights speak
in deepening, darkening
shades of silence
and my body instinctively
leans in …
to listen and follow.
I lay upon my couch
and watch as the fire burns
its tethered flames
leaping and lunging
casting windy shadows
upon my gray-stained walls.
A sudden pop
stuns the silence
but doesn’t fracture it.
The silence is accentuated
even more because of it.
And as I breathe in
that sticky-sweet scent
of caramelizing wood,
my body begins to loosen
and I let go
into the feel of being lifted up
both soaring free
and still tucked in.
- Lauren Taub Cohen
