Night Mythology
Night mythology
Left over from someone else's youth
Who viewed this time of day
As the Rome toward which
All times lead,
The Christmas of the week
When the presents of friendship or love
Waited to be unwrapped
As dances, dates, dinners -
All dreams of the young
In search of their own kind,
In search of the very one
Of their kind who would fulfill
A thousand unspoken wishes.
Then they find the one,
And for a moment,
Night is filled with stars
And the scent of honeysuckle,
Long, warm kisses,
And the ravenous touch
Of another's hand.
But night mythology follows our lives
Through the screaming alarm
Of groggy feedings,
Shared child prayers,
Worrisome first sleep-overs,
Nervous first dates,
Unplanned, long conversations,
Anxious waiting up,
And the echoing silence
Of the empty nest.
Through the wine press of age,
Night loses its shimmer,
Becoming afternoon's dark-haired sister
With no special ambiance of her own,
That is, until she returns
In one glorious finale
To sweep us away
To a first new dawn.
Reflection
1.What did night mean to you when you were a child? Does it still carry that meaning, or did it change?
2.What does night to you at your current stage of life? Can you imagine how that might change as your life changes?
3.How will you adapt to the changes that life inevitably brings to you? Can you anticipate them?