It’s late November.
Thanksgiving has hurtled past.
December is charging forward.
A moment ago it seems, we noted
yellow school buses returning
to the road after summer.
The seasons roll away,
like children on a grassy hill
laughing at how fast they go.
After winter, spring will come
then summer, then fall.
Any other plans are tentative
while we count the weeks
with chemo and wonder
if your sandals
waiting on the closet floor
will be worn again.
Jacqueline Jules is the author of Manna in the Morning (Kelsay Books, 2021), Itzhak Perlman's Broken String, winner of the 2016 Helen Kay Chapbook Prize from Evening Street Press, and Smoke at the Pentagon: Poems to Remember (Bushel & Peck, 2023). Her poetry has appeared in over 100 publications. Visit her online at www.jacquelinejules.com