Lullaby At Dusk

I Lullaby at Dusk (for Father Johnnie E. Ross) While today I missed the dawn, I refuse to let the dusk pass, too, being The chance to see time flow More than the only guessing feel of its pace... With seeds thrown out for the cardinals’ dinner, I will dine on the fading silhouettes Of the garden’s young pines and oaks near- Ready to sleep as the sky thickens gray Behind them to the east, so they are the last To see the indigo stretching of night. As I lie here, the soul To care a gaze upon their drowsing. Simple grove, how can they know I worry If this cold descending on This nearly Christmas night Might cause them a shivering hour or two? Pulling tighter their bark all about, They appear to dream higher, almost Standing in a present lullaby to one another, As they shelter the cardinals in the forks Of their branching deliverance and rest From passing days, and weather and predators. I watch...I watch as the star-show starts Beyond the thick night’s descending veil. We will go on unseen to one another in sleep, The trees, the birds, and I, into Darkest night, a going way forth to light. ********. ********. *********. ******* (c) sally Young eslinger 12;29/20 Oh all thanks be to God...and Charlie, too