Cold Eerie Dawn

Cold Eerie Dawn Misty pre-dawn shivering not moving just absorbing graveyard silence standing on brittle brown stems of grass poking through fresh frost while surveying my river lying between steep banks wrapped in shadow where willows trail branches in waters flat and calm a watery mat slides by slow silent dark when light grows wisps of steam rise above grey waters silence more acute mist hangs low only water moves then suddenly some fish with lazy rolls break surface ripples spread ight reflects flickers pierces dark shadows silence deepens then two doves perched up high in bare trees softly coo again total silence reigns watery sun creeps higher air much colder I shrug turn leave and still the river slides by silently 60 years and more slipped by since last I stood watching dark waters sliding past on that cold eerie dawn so long ago.