To Jon In October

Knowing our lives a drowse towards death (attended by dogs & children) how can it not matter that I remember (day after day) that one day we shall lose each other, lose the lights in each other's eyes to death, & drift off to other universes. Love shall not save us from being alone at the end, & the daughter we made in that fine high exuberance of having found each other shall not save us either. We shall go off into the ether alone, trying to remember (as the threads unravel & the brain cells turn to fluffy cumulus clouds) that on clear October days like this one, when the hills were red with maple, gold with oak, we bumped along in the Jeep reminding each other: 'Wake up! Wake up! This will not last forever!'