This Night
Noises at nighttime.
Lights in the sky.
Brightness all around.
Full moon on high.
Life in abundance,
but not seen how.
No bark of the dog.
No cat’s meow.
Growling - roaring -
farrrr far away.
Click-e-ty - clack
till it be day.
Across and above
moves a slow, blinking light.
Hypnotized I stare
till she fades from my sight.
Hark! There’s a hound
in the far distant way.
Something didst move,
and the hound didst bay.
There’s a grumble and a whine.
Continuously it pours…
from the wheels and the motors
and the road it roars.
Another noise,
it seems I hear.
Steady and rhythmic…
but unknown by my ear.
All around are the tracks
of a proud, noble race,
but I alone witness
this night’s great grace.
I feel the noises
in the night.
I see the cold
and hear moonlight.
“Peaceful Beyond Belief”
is the name of this night.
I shall remember it always…
always… this night.
January 29, 1988
Around midnight