Something Less

Between shadow and sky
Crickets chirp
Mourning doves decry
The fading day
And winds sift
Both grass and weed
The feathery down
On the duck’s back
And the light hair along my arm.

I slowly sip the strong tea
In my cup
As slowly as the sun eases
To earth
As slowly as memory
Plays along the pathways
Of my mind.

I struggle to resist
Memories looping my brain
Reviving images
Calculated to mix
Pleasure and pain
The joys of past kindnesses
And the ragged edge of loss.

There will always be
Shadow and sky
Pleasure and pain.
To kick against one
Is to deny yourself the other.

I need something stronger
Than tea tonight.
But I also need something less
Than truth.