He's like grass in October
when the mower says,
let it go,
the frost will mow it,
it ain't worth the work.
So the mower ignores it
and it grows tall and strong and tough to uproot
rolling and billowing and whispering in the breeze
and never breaks
it ain't a lawn
it's wild and waving and seeding
like real grass
under cool-gray clouds
and icy staring stars
and the cold blue of a sky with it's heat gathered in the sun.
And then the frost mows it,
settling hard and white and fragrant
on a night filled with
cool and moon and still
and grasses turn hard and crackly and November brown,
whispering still, but whispering sharp
long and matted among its own
covering seeds
for another spring
and the struggle to wear down the mower.