Mid-November Dawn From We Build Temples in the Heart

It seems like a good day to share a poem that appeared in a slightly different form in my 2004 collection We Build Temples in the Heart published by Beacon House, Boston.

The poem came to me early one morning on my daily walk from the Metra train station in Cary, Illinois to Briargate Elementary School where I was the Head Custodian. After I opened the building and classrooms and hoisted the Flag outside, I grabbed a cup of bad coffee in the Teachers’ Lounge and set down to scribble a first draft.

Mid-November Dawn

The time has come,

I know, I know.

The soft frosts that fade

at the first blush of light

are over.

The grass snaps now

with each step,

the cold seeps around

the buttons of my coat,

up my sleeves,

down my neck.

Of a sudden the leaves,

just yesterday the glory

of the season,

are shed in heaps and drifts.

The bare arms that held them

Shiver in the dawn.

Long clouds of starlings

swirl and trail across

the lowering sky,

crows clamor over

carrion earth.

The time has come,

I know, I know.

But just when the wail of grief

wells in my throat,

the keening for utter loss

that crowds my senses

and my soul—

a simple doe ambles unconcerned

across the scurrying road

into a remnant patch of wood,

somewhere just out of sight

the half-maddened buck

thrashes in the brambles.

The time has come,

I know, I know.

My blood quickens in the cold,

death falls away.

--Patrick Murfin

I have copies of We Build Temples in the Heart still available and will send you or your loved ones a personally inscribed copy for the low, low price of $8. I’ll even pay the postage! They make great stocking stuffers for your literate friends. Or you can piss off your children by using it instead of a lump of coal—they will be just as disappointed and angry!

Message me privately on Facebook or e-mail pmurfin@sbcglobal.net and we can exchange postal addresses so you can send me a check and I can send you a book. Such a deal!