Autumn Inside Me
by Doug Tanoury

I pick a pear from a branch
Hanging low
And take a small bite
Just to test the taste
It is sweet
So the second
and all subsequent bites
are larger

It is cool after sunset
I no longer walk
Barefoot on the blacktop
In comfort
It is a marble floor
Against my soles

I eat the pear
Seeds and all
And only the stem is left
To twirl between thumb
And forefinger
As I wish
I had plucked two
From the tree
With branches
Hanging so low

I walk in darkness
Just after sunset
Without
A remnant of light
On the horizon
Black
Is the color
Of fall nights

I have tasted the season
On my lips
Across my tongue
And there is no doubt
It is autumn
Inside me