AFTERWARDS

Quiet now, no peal or clink left of the day,

all dancing, singing, thanking done,

now speed the pulse through night.

A new morning will wake us soon

and wash all that away.

 

Plans for this and plans for that may knock on doors

of minds still blinking, blinded by

the flash of records made.

So lock and bolt secure those gates

and let your hearts restore.

 

For hard the journey by your stars,

to fight the lashing rain that shakes

near loose your lover’s hand.

And as the storm cloud passes dark

sing loud the skies alight.

 

So quiet now, bright-eyed contemplate each day

too few to waste; to each assign

a time of reckoning.

And, having loved as best you could,

while twilight hours away.