DUSK

My cat and I watch the light
fade slowly into approaching night.
It is a time of quietness for us.
While he lies at the window
thinking up new ways of doing nothing,
I let the shadows calm
the frenzied spirit of the day.

There is a slowness and inevitability
to nature that we often miss,
like watching grass grow,
or a flower curl against
the evening chill.

Even the flight of birds at twilight
seems more graceful and unhurried.
The natural world moves at its own pace.
We cannot rush the darkness
nor hurry the light of a new day.

That is as it should be.
We can only wait and rest,
and in the vesper hour,
be grateful for this
time of reflection.


--Harry L. Serio
May 5, 1989