November Rain

November set in slowly,
unnoticed as my forgotten cactus
leaking its last water
from a fractured jardinière.

Like the cactus, November
pled this morning to be noticed,
clouds drooping in thirsty, gray branches,
days longing to be slaked with light.

Precipitous November, that falls
between the days past harvest
toward an unexpected frost,
toward obdurate winter,

You nearly caught me unprepared
but for the cactus languishing,
the oyster clouds dropping
Autumn’s final pearls into the leaf-bare trees.