Not Dark Yet

With logs and sticks we built our walls
And patched the roof with straw and moss
But time is cruel and men are fools
So all we loved is sadly lost.
Despite the fact that nature calls,
The concrete marks our rigid pall.

We lay in grass and weaved the wind -
We stroked the stars when midnight came -
But that was when we lived untrimmed
And now the stars don't shine the same.
With fallen leaves and broken limbs,
The trees won't breathe on all our sins.

I hope, at last, that I can lay
In earth no man has trodden black.
To dream of brooks and ocean spray
And all the good we sadly lack.
If sunlight breaks the sullen grey,
I hope that night gives way to day.

--

Ben Pickard 2023