common valerian's
pure white,
as the goat's beard,
now skeletal,
rises
aloft
far from
soft
wild phlox,
still
sweet.
At phlox feet,
creeping bellwort,
returning.
Learning that the
New England aster,
purple haloes
bursting through,
mark the
pin cherry's brutal death
earlier this year.
Clearly,
hedge bindweed
has its
heart set on
calico aster.
Slowing
bees
lay stunned
under
goldenrod
rigida and canadensis
as an autumnal
spiderwort of
bluest blue
cursively
creeps
into
the cooling night