All sound is lessened where the lane
Turns once more to dip for home
Hilarity and urgent conversation –
Who were those friends preceding me
Their buoyant levity fading?
In country night though hardly-born
This translucent world seems brief
A bubble-bright communal celebration
An ancient star
Perceived as new upon a promenade
Life is a Province of others –
Shared stories
Dissipate as leaf-mill on a pool
Just try to lift the moon out from a well
Those songs that once seemed topical
Dazzling flint for argument or love –
Tonight it’s darkness weaves the fields
With patient breath of horses
Half-awake attentive
Still-standing in a misty wreath of sleep
I dreamed I strolled home in the dark
Home from a distant past
Home from a drink and a dance
Assumed into those quiet metronomes
Of trees and stars and night and solitude
A shining darkness unafraid
Gladly re-united with myself
Bernard Saint
Illustration: Claire Palmer
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