Flight To Midnight

O albatross guide my loosed soul from the shipwreck seized by sandy shoal persuasive Polar Star in quiet pull a sailor’s tired eyes gone dark I will dream while we fly on wings that span horizons east to west I ride upon a cloud your belly white above the plunging breakers of unrest above the chaos cast by spindrift spite hush of broken clouds unveils tranquil sea of stars – midnight innocence ..midnight innocence the zero hour a blameless bridge between the dark tale and the blank page absolving sins of the late day while the midnight hour holds the past at bay while the midnight hour sends forth a new day the moon kisses eyelids closed for the last time ah, midnight innocence blame cannot stain your cloak of mystery nor sully your exposé as the midwife bringing forth a newborn day a beauty rosy-glowed sired to suckle from the teats of sunrise growing fat on milky streams of sunbeams O midnight hour your callow nature shallow nested in the dark hollow of the future — O midnight hour your youthful nature truthful untainted and untried yet to meet the temptress or the tempest unfeathered unfledged and unflustered yet to fly and survive the weathered sky of the white albatross yet to open morning eyes of blue – serene the aquamarine the storm yet unseen — yet to wean from the breast of daybreak yet to witness Nature’s thuggery yet to suffer or rejoice a choice yet to rise in the fire of dawn only to fall in the brazen blaze of sundown doomed from conception by deception as crowds of wildfire-clouds seize the glory and the crown from the abdicating sun the day burned the remains returned the black horizon your urn soil and surf and silhouette smothered in the dust of falling dusk soft as soot — alas, rosy dawn an angel face yet to know of sunset’s coup de grace O albatross.. minder of souls lift a sailor bled on gnashing shoals untethered from Earth horizontal your flight and vertical your height wave whisperer fluent in fluid language wind rider your heart the compass rose we follow the double-edged fleur-de-lis in directions south to north from damnation to forgiveness North towards midnight innocence for the midnight hour bares the beauty and the late day laid to rest bears the blame Susan Ashley June 14, 2022 ~ First Place ~ Premiere Contest: Flight Two Sponsor: Chantelle Anne Cooke ~ Poem Of The Day ~ June 16, 2022 (Crystalline- Kimo- Quatrain- Haiku- Free Verse)