Verse: Reluctance

For @_peanut_

I wonder
where the stars
are tonight
I miss them
and their soft
reassuring light

I looked for them
but I don't think
they want
to be found
and darkness
like a cancer
slowly consumes
the arteries
of this town

It's not something
that should
trouble me
I know
any more than
sainted summer
curses the
heresy of snow

I would be wise
to just let it go
after all
it's only time
it passes painless
like a notion
and as silent
as a mime

I hesitated
to tell you this
it seemed too simple
and plain
as everyday
as morning is
as obvious
as rain

And the stars
that I was looking for
not one
do I see
they burrow into
miles of quilted clouds
exhausted by
the likes of me

There's nothing
about them
I can tell you
it does no good to try
let them be
unburdened by allusions
let the stars
be stars
and the sky
be sky