The black dreary sky
falls in its heavy gloom
and hides the sun,
leaving the land
in shadows and under
the dark tentacles
of night’s chill despair.
A child looks up
into the dark
from the filthy street,
and cries for the sun
to come again to the land,
to come and bring the
warm embrace of
light’s new day.
The child,
as innocent as Eden,
stands against the
cold soot of night
and looks to the horizon
that is blood-red
tinged with black,
waiting and waiting,
holding fast and waiting,
never stopping the cries
from the empty street
against the night,
never stopping the cries
till at the dawn the
first peeps of day
bring the remnant of a smile.
25/2/2017