Windfall Dye

Published Monday, November 3, 2025

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Water will do,
but, if you have the patience for tears,
tears are better.
Beyond that, simply add whatever you find lying about:
Dead things, discarded or fallen things,
pits of wild cherries, a rusted nail, lichen, leaves, a twig.

Then —
just let it all go.

Forget the fabric, forget
the pail of water and the basement shelf on which you placed it.
When you have waited so long that even the darkness
has forgotten you,
there will be the surprising beauty of things
whose names have dissolved:

a stained heart, a blotted reputation, a vow.
And, when you come upon people weeping at the border
of grief and joy,
you will know how to sit down with them.

What I promise you
is the whole cloth.