All on a Quiet Summer's Evening

A gentle breeze now barely stirs
And rustles leaves above my head;
Life’s so sweet, I shed no tears,
What’s left for me is now unsaid.

And back I lie upon my chair,
The garden, so pretty, so warm, so still;
So happy, so blessed without a care,
Does this, I ask, my life fulfil?

Above I see, so graceful and sleek,
So smoothly gliding, no sound they make;
Higher and higher, as heaven they seek,
Gulls on high - our world forsake?

Now martins - darting, to and fro,
And chirping above - so swift, so free;
Chasing gnats they swoop so low,
Then high above and hard to see,

I close my eyes and hear the stream,
To the pond it gently flows;
A croaking frog distracts my dream,
But peace, I feel, within me grows.

And then the light of setting sun,
Catches a dance of death and doom;
A dance and dance till life is done,
Dancing specks the pond entomb.

Above the limpid pool they dance,
Their life’s commitment now complete;
Tiny specks of life that dance and dance,
In sun they dance, now death they greet.

Are we but dancing specks of life -
Now dancing in the evening light?
Mites who dance then dance no more,
Before the coming eternal night?

The sun is but a gentle light,
It sets below the clouds so red;
Cirrus on high that’s feathery white,
But little I know of what’s ahead.

So warm and pleasant the evening air,
So peaceful, serene - a dusk so still;
So happy, so blessed - without a care,
Does this, I ask, my life fulfil?

Back I lie and close my eyes,
But shrieks demonic my ears assail!
Rooks above - I hear their cries,
I hear the dead now scream and wail!

In the heavens I hear them screech,
Louder and louder they become;
“Demonic!” I cry - I now beseech,
“Mercy!” I cry. “My mind is numb!”

My life I knew - so tranquil and sure -
I had relaxed and closed my eyes;
My thoughts had drifted to realms obscure,
Where now, my thoughts amongst their cries?

But back I lie upon my chair,
My thoughts return, the garden still;
So blessed I am, without a care,
This does, I know, my life fulfil.

A gentle breeze – “Away my fears!”
I see the stars above my head;
Life’s so sweet, I shed no tears,
What’s left for me is left unsaid.

 

This poem was written following an unusually warm spell of weather during which I was able to sit and relax in the garden during the evening.  The rooks are actually fine, and really great friends of mine – just a bit of rookistic license….