Nighttime Solitude A lone peafowl pines plaintively across the darkened land Perhaps to call a mate or warn of passing danger But, I, a stranger do not understand For there are stranger sounds here where the darkened blossoms fall A whispered footfall of a bushbuck shy, Nearby an owl hoo hoos and Who knows why for I a stranger to this night song of the frogs that sing And silent flight of night bird on the wing I am a stranger to this safety in the dark I blow the embers of the fire I made to keep the spark To fan the flame beneath the last log’s coal to burn more brightly For tomorrow I return to home and Noisy cars and sirens nightly And to sorrow But for now I’ll sit a little longer by this tiny hearth The embers bright Competing only with Moon’s dappled light upon the appled earth And remember all the things I loved and love put away the sorrow and the sadness for tonight And ponder in the solitude that Nighttime isn’t dark It’s just ...
More than one hundred lifetimes later and like the alley cat, back on my feet. "Who are you" I ask the precocious seven year old who used to have the answer to everything, "And where are you going?"