Landscape with Onlooker, by William Matthews

One night shy of full, fat as a beach ball, the moon

looks not lonesome shining through the trees, but replete

with the thoughtless sensuality of well-being.

A chill in the air? No, under the air, like water

under a swimmer. The unsteadfast leaves grow crisp

and brittle, the better to fall away. Some nights

fear, like rising water in a well, fills these hours--

the dead of night, as the phrase goes, when you quicken

and the dank metallic sweat beads like a vile dew.

But tonight you stand at your window, framed and calm,

and the air’s as sweet as a freshly peeled orange.

There’s a moon on the lake, and another in the sky.

From “Time & Money,” by William Matthews. (Houghton Mifflin: $19.95; 69 pp.) 1995 Reprinted by permission.