November

No

No sun--no moon!
No morn--no noon!
No dawn--no dusk--no proper time of day--
No sky--no earthly view--
No distance looking blue--
No road--no street--no "t'other side this way"--
No end to any Row--
No indications where the Crescents go--
No top to any steeple--
No recognitions of familiar people--
No courtesies for showing 'em--
No knowing 'em!
No traveling at all--no locomotion--
No inkling of the way--no notion--
"No go" by land or ocean--No mail--no post--
No news from any foreign coast--
No Park, no Ring, no afternoon gentility--
No company--no nobility--
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member--
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds--
November!

(Thomas Hood)

Memory

Arrangement of nick knacks on shelves
chosen by you and stored in locations
familiar to you alone

Classified by color, size or time
linked as firmly and randomly
as branches in a tree.

The dist of time paint over everything
when disturbed, shows clearly
what has been touched.

A word, piece of music, face, smell, transports
through time, distance, life and death.
You have no control

(WRM)