A Fifth Season

A Fifth Season

Steve McQue

We once spoke of splendid things:
A van-full of kids, an artist’s flat, a ranch,
carrying grain to a village, or praying
with disaffected intellectuals in Berlin.

Seasons tumbled around us
like boulders to a rockfall.
Each anniversary celebrating
a mountain we claimed for ourselves.

Tarnishment brings silence
in scarred wombs, whispers
of termites in the cupola;
self-quarantined prodigals.

Stillness and time allow
for excavation and refinement.
Our expectations eroded by wind
and shattering footfalls of ancient beasts.

I imagine us as lichen, clung together
under ice or the scorching sun,
not knowing where you end or I begin;
content if our mountain is thrown into the sea.

We have found a fifth season,
contrapuntal, forgiving,
like rain polishing sandstone
or frost preserving a rose.

To love you I don’t need reason
or your devotion in every instant.
We are content in our valley,
tended by a Gardener on whom
no limits we could impose.

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Steve McQue
Writer & Social Worker

Steve is a licensed clinical social worker who has served within schools, mental health clinics, and homes in the helping profession since 2010. He writes poetry and prose as a spiritual exercise and expression of love for his wife, family, and friends. You can read more of his work at helper.substack.com. Steve is a 2010 graduate of Susquehanna University's Creative Writing Institute, where he enjoyed great literary fellowship and publishing of prose and poetry. 

Photography by Waranont