Evening Song II
By: Kathleen Chamberlin
The stars are quiet tonight, peeking through the soft gray clouds,
Shielded from prying eyes,
Twinkling whispers without foreboding,
Piercing the blackened sky, hypnotic for sleepy eyes.
The earth settles into restful slumber, no groans or creaks or rumbling,
Nothing to mar soft, rhythmic breathing,
Only the owl hooting or the loan wolf's howl, plaintive both.
I alone hear them.
Awake, I walk light-footed across the deck.
Resting my head against my crossed arms, I peer upward.
Surely, you must be there, somewhere,
In those places otherworldly: Eternity? Heaven?
The slender silver thread that tethers me to this earthly plane,
Thins as I age, and soon will dissolve,
Loosening me from this dream of life,
Dissolving into a thousands remnants,
I will shed this aged form, cease to be.
I shall soar aloft serenely, far above the earth,
Shining down on those hushed sleepers below.
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