T. E. Niemi is a resident of New Hampshire. He writes screenplays, stories and poems. His poems have appeared in The Galway Review, Confingo magazine, Spectrum, The Orchards Poetry Journal, Inkfish Magazine, and elsewhere. His debut poetry chapbook, At Night and Other Poems, was published by Bottlecap Press in 2024.

Autumn Song

The trees, the trees are weeping
     tears of orange, red and gold.
What sorrows were they keeping
     that they now no longer hold?
 
In gray skies that are yearning
     for the warmth of summer’s sun,
the honking geese cry warning
     of the frigid days to come.
 
And soon within the forest,
     silence will supersede sound,
when animals seek their rest
     in warm burrows underground.
 
Then all of my thoughts will turn,
     as they have each fall before,
to the ones for whom I yearn,
     to the lost who are no more.

To a Love Long Lost 

Long ago, 
     you held my heart, 
a timid thing, 
     forlorn, apart. 
You sheltered it 
     from all life’s pain, 
and taught it how 
     to love again. 
 
Now you no longer 
     hold my heart, 
for time has pried 
     your hands apart.
Yet one truth, 
     constant, remains 
from our start: 
     I hold your heart.

Insomnia

Each night I resurrect the dead
while awaiting sleep in my bed.
I think of all they did and said,
and wish they were alive instead.