Keeping the dark away

We look out the window

Out, away from our shining light

Out, into the pining night

that draws uneven breath

The night is pitch, utter,

complete in its darkness

that hurries away when

stray light flickers on, and then

burns a soft scar

of ash, as a star

does when it streaks

across an empty sky.

Silence: she links arms,

with the night. Wily,

Their charms, slyly,

They steal past us-the bright and happy.

Who sit, in rising smoke

and laugh in the noise

that cascades around

the room. The music, the sound

Tremble when the thought

of night crawls out, and is caught

in the minds, and eyes of those

once laughing, once talking.

For who, I wonder, staring

at the black, darkening eyes,

Can flee the dizzying cries

Of a beckoning night.

So we huddle together,

to find an endless light

in some warmth that glows

as tears spill, and wine flows