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