Ann Day
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The Cider Press
Two Men Stand in Silence
Passing Darkness
Bedtime Story



Two men stand in silence,
silhouettes against a silver sea.
They may be studying stars or waiting quietly
for peace, for some deep sorrow to be alleviated.

I know their mood.
I too have risen in the dark
to follow the footsteps of a friend
down to the borders of an empty beach
where a wide moon path divides a black tide.
I have stood by while another grieved
a lover's death.

Bodies of my own dead
lie deep under other oceans; moon-washed
skies like these rise pale and radiant
beyond whatever rocky headlands
guard their unknown resting places.

The strangers in this painting --
despite their odd soft hats, their cloaks,
their different century -- wait as I have waited
for the moon to erase all shadows,
for the night wind to rise, whispering consolation
through the harp of grassess at our feet.

If I stand here long enough
perhaps they will turn and walk back
carefully over the damp rocks, the silver tips
of their walking sticks catching the gleam
of moonlit water. I wait here in my own time
for our eyes to meet, for each of them
to raise his hat in silent greeting.





(c) 2007 Ann Day