A Certain Triangle of Light

Betsy Joseph

September 15, 2024

           for Bella

Our gray feline lies attuned 

to the fading stream of the day

to a certain triangle of light,

so wishing it will hover and stay

so that she can stretch and nap

while leaving her humans to say

something meaningful about the Solstice,

the declinations of afternoon rays,

their voices mere whispers as deepening day

runs bare of warmth and breath,

with Helios in his chariot flitting madly away.

Betsy Joseph lives in Dallas and has poems that have appeared in several journals and anthologies. She is the author of two poetry books published by Lamar University Literary Press: Only So Many Autumns (2019) and most recently, Relatively Speaking (2022), a collaborative collection with her brother, poet Chip Dameron. In addition, she and her husband, photographer Bruce Jordan, have produced two books, Benches and Lighthouses, which pair her haiku with his black and white photography.