After the Parade
wherefore the light behind the shadow of life fawns and concedes it’s place in the vast unknown. It’s time to reap the seeds that we have sown.
The ground trembles. Rocks rise up from the earth –
moist with rain and life - the brook collapses
in on itself. Playful light, filled with mirth,
vitality. Early dawn; night lapses
gently away at a time when no-one
notices. But we are here to watch it
now. Different. A new era; begun
a cataclysm unexplained. Commit!
an inner voice pleads – to this moment. For
it will soon all be over. A blot on
the fabric of the universe, wherefore
the light behind the shadow of life fawns
and concedes it’s place in the vast unknown.
It’s time to reap the seeds that we have sown.
A small group of us convene on the hill.
Together by chance to watch it unfold
(dice ever fall whichever way they will).
The murmurs of uncertainty grow cold.
The woeful cries of realisation
subside and what remains, a quiet peace,
a grateful and sombre resignation.
The air prickles with sharp cool – uncreases
the trick of another day as beads of
dew materialise on grass under
our bare feet. But the light comes from above
and bears unfamiliar tinge; occurs
like a warning. Emerges from someplace
else entirely to linger. Just a trace
of life left in us now and so we breathe
deeply and relish the sharpness of the
chill and the potency of the reprieve.
We bask in the reverent quiet, a
moment to savour that we are here at
all. Bitterness and remorse seem wholly futile
so all that’s left is sensation and that
cool feeling of the damp earth, infertile
beneath our toes. Nature knows it too, and
She weeps quietly at the goodness and
badness of man, but wise enough –at hand -
to face the inevitable. Unplanned,
though nothing ever is, and here we are:
our shadows dance one final time before our burning star.
About the Creator
Beth Sarah
We've been scribbled in the margins of a story that is patently absurd
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Comments (1)
This was excellent! Very beautifully written