moment of silence

the light comes in
as it does at four thirty during winter months
bashfully bidding us farewell
before moving on to some other place

the blue of sky turns grey, and the temperature drops
it leaves us cold
so that the day seems to end before it even began

why does it go so early
     when there is so much to do today,
                       when we are alive and ready
                                        to move and feel and love?

but we accept the fact,
and we learn to take the night as it comes--
it does, after all, leave us stars and a bright half-moon
to break up the black-
                             pitch-
                                   black

but the fire burns gold like never before,

so we can see one another's faces glow

as here we are huddled together,
cocooned in old quilts,
the chill of fall air a faint sensation through the fabric.

in fond memory of William Ruane Jr.