-This poem reflects on asters blooming in the narrow strip beside a fence, where lingering summer light, the weight of a bumblebee, and a seed caught in the wire reveal autumn beginning at the overlooked edges.
The asters gather by the fence,
small violet stars among the green,
where summer lingers in the grass,
and bees move slowly bloom to bloom.
The mower left this narrow strip,
a little wilderness of stems,
their petals leaning through the wire,
their yellow centers full of light.
By afternoon the shadows climb,
the field grows amber past the rails,
a bumblebee bends one thin stalk,
then leaves it trembling in the air.
At dusk, one silver seed breaks loose,
and catches where the wires cross,
while autumn passes through the fence,
and settles deeper in the grass.