Late Autumn Ohio

from Field Stones
by Robert Kinsley

The last of the hay has
come in from the fields chaff
settling deep in the reaches
of barn.

Out along the fence-line thistles
  open and bow down
to the wind that receives them.

Against the coming darkness
cats in silhouette, slim bodies
thickening with fur.

In the barn I bend touching
the soft belly of cow, light fading
October, like the hand of God, a cold
and singular narrative.