HOLDING ON

HOLDING ON

This cool stillness on a bare porch jolts me

from a somber thought: hanging by a thread,

this fluffy piece of thistledown tells us all

about how tenuously we cling to a place we

never really owned. Like that wind tossed

seed-carrier, when we dance our final twirl

and all the dancers off the floor, we hold on

to a lingering melody that keeps us swaying,

alas, to an absent band---an invisible yarn

binding us to a story's end. We barely tremble.

---Albert B. Casuga

07-31-11

Prompt: Cool and still. The piece of thistledown stuck to a porch post by an invisible thread—small flag of an ephemeral country—barely trembles.---Dave Bonta, The Morning Porch, 07-31-11