beneath the tree

Dark Night Rendezvous

 

meet me,

you begged

beneath the great tree

where once

the garden grew

 

Be there

two hours before

the sunrise

with a single candle's flame

as my guide

 

despite my own desire

to stay home in bed

lost in warm safe slumber

I get up and go

 

the hour of night

was still as death

and every bit as quiet

even the crickets

held their breath

 

my cry rang flat

not even an echo

could pierce the silence

of this darkened night

 

I found the old tree

wrapped in deep shadows

against a cloudy

moonless sky

 

the darkest ink

could never be as black

as the heavens

endless above my head

 

thankfully the old table

was still there

damp and lifeless

wood now half rotted

nothing like the cheerful

picnic table of times

gone by

 

I lit my candle

and little streaks of hope

shone against the foreboding limbs

that stretched just overhead

the tiny flame flickered and jumped

but stayed true

like a needle through the dark

 

then at long last

I hear the distant sound

of hooves on cobblestone

then the horseman's deep voice

commands an end

to the dark silence,

a black carriage

with dual lights

parts the curtain of shadow

stopping just in front of me

 

I look back

one last time

at my candle still glowing

and see the red glare

on the bottom bark

of the great tree's massive limb

and for a moment

I think I smell

last spring's colorful flowers

 

it had become

such a lonely place

one I'd as soon forget

so I step up

into the waiting carriage

and sit silently next to

your waiting warmth

 

as the horseman's voice

booms once again

we are taken away

by creaking wheels

and clopping hooves

but soon the clatter

gives way to silence

with only the wind

to fill our ears

 

I feel us rise into the sky

that once was so dark and foreboding

it now opens before my eyes

stars fill the heavens

with magnificent glow

then at long last

I close my eyes

and take my rest

 

Penny Breeze

Done