Nolo Segundo

The Low-Hanging Sun
 
I went to take out the trash,
the good trash, glass and paper
destined for re-incarnation
and as I stepped outside,
the air cool and pearly white,
the low hanging sun smiles,
throws a late afternoon warmth
over my body, a blanket of silk.
 
For a moment I stopped to think,
then thanked the low hanging sun
for being there, the last defense
against a cold deep unto death . . . .
 
In our immense Universe, wall-less,
ever expanding, is mostly night,
utter and fearsome darkness, all
pitch-black and cold, a coldness
beyond comprehension or life--
so the light and heat of every
myriad star is precious, precious . . . .
 
 

Nolo Segundo, pen name of L.J. Carber, 74, in his 8th decade became a published poet in 56 literary journals and anthologies in the US, UK, Canada, Romania, and India; in 2020 a trade publisher released a book length collection, The Enormity of Existence and in 2021 a 2nd book, Of Ether and Earth. Both titles and much of his work reflect the awareness he's had for 50 years since having an NDE whilst almost drowning in a Vermont river: that he has-is-a consciousness that precedes birth and survives death—an endless being, a soul. A retired teacher, [America, Japan, Taiwan, Cambodia], he has been married 41 years to s smart and beautiful woman from Taiwan.