NIGHTFALL



The last days of  June have come with a swift and harsh reminder of summer heat and with it the return of evening life. School is finished, the municipal pool is open, the village is filling with holiday makers. The streets hum with sound as doors are opened to let in the cool night air. We sleep through the hot afternoons and stay up late as the sun goes down and the stars come out. 


Photo of the sky over Parcent by Chris Knight



NIGHT FALL

So hot by day we live by night,
when the breeze fans the sky,
rustling through tree trimmed valleys
scuttling dried riverbeds to the sea.

Cooling now the village breathes,
echoes of children freed from school,
dogs barking their ‘campo’ song,
doves cooing as they fly to roost.

High above street life I watch as
the sun releases its closing rays,
soft pinks glazing the inkiness,
flushing purple the deepening blue.

Drifting dusk bugs bestow an
evening feast for darting swifts,
swooping close, skimming roof tops,
black arrows cutting the twilight.

Gazing skyward the velvet sky
is sprinkled glitter bright as
twinkling eyes open ever wider,  
heavens pricked with starlight.



© 2019 Jacqueline Knight Cotterill.  All rights reserved. 

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