October

The full moon is in the sky
Glowing silently behind silvery clouds
While a yellow tree catches a street lamp’s pale light.

It is October in my year of years
Many an October I have pondered the dry leaves
As I thought of Poe and Ulalume
And wondered if this was the October
Of my most immemorial year.

October! Natal month
When the balance has started to shift
In favor of the dark.
The dark, which has always carried for me a certain fascination
Hitchcock, Poe, Kafka
These were heroes of my youth.

But I had forgotten the dark
In the excitement of the newfound sun
Until the cold rock of the Father
Grabbed me with its icy fingers
And restored that special balance of my psyche.

This October there is no mistake
This was my special year
The year of opening
The year of letting go
The year I found the sound
And sang the Song of my Soul.

Year of changes and of beginning a passage
Year that brought me to the river’s edge
And let me glimpse through the dim mist
That other shore.

I have reached a new stillpoint
In my life’s journey.
O moon so bright
Good night, good night!