Unready for night

Dusk is coming early.
I'm unready.
Suddenly birds whistle
and the sky fades.

I'm staying in,
unready for night
walking out on the town.
Around me the walls close in
on indistinguishable fears.

My guitar is fading
into the shadowy corner.
I falter as I play it,
unable to see the strings.

I'm unready for the nights
getting longer and deeper.
In the dim morning I emerge
skimpily dressed
for the shallows of autumn,
intricate dreams
wrapped round my eyes.

Unseen, unmoored
my heart strings fly
unready for the long deep night,
seeking not finding,
homing to their hollow bed
unreconciled.

Nocturne

Now my tight longing loosens.
Slack-wire I walk in my blue dress
through the teetering evening.

The singer lit in amber
sings gales regaling memory.

There we go hand in hand
over the cobble-stones.
Horses cantering in harness bells
jingle in the blue air.

That tune has lived
for a thousand years
in a rusted phonograph
in a mottled attic.

I'm wearing blue
flowers blooming in the dark.
I'm walking my wire to the very end
over the moon-drenched grass,
counting the countless
promises of night.

Galas let loose
in silken shadows.
The sheen of dreams.
The stars unveiled.