Im Abendrot

For Mona and Paksie

O weiter, stiller Friede!
So tief im Abendrot.
Wie sind wir wandermüde...
- Joseph von Eichendorff


I've stood, transfixed, as perfect darkness hangs
its velvet for a million fireflies' perfect glow,
heard silence sliced in two as choirs sang,
awoken on the moor to silent snow;

breathed in the distant scent of desert rain,
felt sun desert the deep ravine like ebbing tide
as eagles called from tree to tree, and seen
a future in your future mother's eyes.

Now voice and strings stretch taut and fall away 
through open windows to the night: and steal
my chance to share those times with you when skies

blew clear, small sounds sailed far, and joy and pain
held one another still. And you will feel
your sun retreat, and know your own fireflies.

First published in Pennine Platform no. 84