Margaret Gibson: "Heaven"

The leaves are turning, one by one carried away in the crisp wind.
In one letter he penned,
Coleridge turned away, calling love
a local anguish he meant to leave
behind him. Away, away,
says the blue and gold day, and no one hears it but the wind, whose law
it echoes. The dog has a red ball to chase.
You pick a flat, perfect stone for the wall you hope to live long enough
to rebuild. I prune
briars, pick burrs from the dog's fur.
I teach Come and Sit. Sit here—
a longer sit beneath the cedars. The grass is freshly cut,
sun low, all the energy
of a summer's day rushing into bulb and root.
The dog runs off, returns. The stones balance
steeply. Good work. Good dog. This is
heaven. Sit. Stay.

"Heaven" by Margaret Gibson. Text as published in Broken Cup: Poems (Louisiana University Press, 2013). © Margaret Gibson. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

Art credit: "Focused," photograph taken on May 10, 2014, by Kristen Fletcher Photography.