A poem
Darkness
Dare we dwell upon the darkness?
Dawdling down some dim-lit street
Smelling the scented air, late evening
Of grass, cut in daytime heat
Pavements and paths, devoid of people
Save for that very last walk of dog
The silhouette of church and steeple
Eerie, through translucent fog
As moonlight plays upon the clouds
Mysterious! Behind each closed curtain
Imagination! Shaped by shrouds
Solitude! Now more uncertain
Undefended by those daytime crowds
Down a station road, no sign of trains
No sparks light up the countryside
No buses pass, no noise from cars
Near-silence casts its night-net wide
All shops are closed, awaiting day
Outside, alarm lights blinking fear
Perhaps, inside the houses, they may
Weep or wipe away a tear
Children, bedtime dread may feel
Anxiety abounds, or soon aroused
What seemed so solid, now seems unreal
Diurnal beings safely housed
Night owls, unseen, their sounds reveal
The occasional fleeting female figure
Walking fast as ever she gracefully can
A furtive smile across her lips
Wary of any unknown man
Perhaps a passing, passive greeting
A muffled voice or wave of hand
Avoidance of all strange eyes meeting
When no woman wants to stop and stand
Or glancing, grimly to the ground
With shoes that signal scurrying
Their ever-quickening, scary sound
Irrational scampering, hurrying
Fearful noise of a far-off hound
That animal’s, glinting, demonic eyes
A moth-eaten, foraging, forlorn fox
Searching through the neighbours’ rubbish
And inside an abandoned, battered box
Reassurance from a friendly sight
As the village road begins to bend
Outside the house, the front door light
The journey almost at its end
Back to that tiny point in space
Beneath those ever-moving stars
The relief upon a loved-one’s face
As if returning from Moon or Mars
From darkness to a protecting place