Sarah White Verse-Virtual 2016 November

November 2016

I am a retired professor of French, living in New York City, painting, writing, and trying to learn Portuguese. (Language-study is my favorite form of frustration.) My most recent poetry collections are The Unknowing Muse (Dos Madres, 2014) and Wars Don’t Happen Anymore (Deerbrook Editions, 2016).

Prayer for the First of November

Forgive the New England Calendar whose gaudy colors are false.
Forgive Vermont and New Hampshire whose gaudy colors are true.
Forgive the city folk who rush to the North in pursuit of a Peak.
Forgive the sumac bush for shaking off her ruby rings,
and the sugar maples blushing under their veils.
Forgive the lacy shawls, the charms and garlands.
Consign them painlessly to the wind.
Forgive the wind and the naked limbs.

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