Weather Forecast

The weather, so far from what we’d expected

of fall and the impending snow of winter,

the storing up and the settling in,

has kept us hopeful this year,

and our dock still stretches out

into the lake from our front steps.

We are the last on the lake to “close up camp,” 
turning off the water against freezing

and broken pipes, removing the dock and boats

and stowing them away, locking the door behind us

until spring’s return. We’re pressing our luck, we know,

the cold creeping into the ground around us,

the furnace running longer, and mornings,

the wood stove slow to heat us up,

so with cold and rain and hints of snow predicted,

it’s time to leave; just as October gives way

to November, we, too, must give way to ourselves,

pack up our lives, and return to the convenience

of insulated living, elsewhere, shut in, away

from the cold and the snow of our lives, distracted

and inconvenienced by the weather coming in.