Muscle of difficulty

Alice Major

November's clench. A sullen（愠怒的） band

of cloud is louring in the West --

a low forehead, a corrugated（波纹的） frown.

Behind it comes the cold drop of frost

and autumn's first hard night.

Corrugator -- the tightening band

over the forehead's bone,

the 'muscle of difficulty,'

of concentration, effort, of leaning in

to frigid wind.

I lean into this coming season

of difficulty, when the sun

will struggle to raise its head

above the angle of sunset,

its bleak obliquity（倾斜）.

November's forehead wears

scoured furrow, tension.

Forgets joy, the orbicular（球形的） crinkle

of eye, those other muscles

to be strengthened.

I think of squinting into the ache

of snow, corrugated tracks.

Facing into November, I find it

difficult to anticipate

consolations --

the warmth of small, enclosed spaces,

the candles of memory

at its center. How can this ever be

enough? I fear too much.

The losses. Isolation.