Ghazal

What dream was lost when the fox's cry broke into the dark
calling his mate across the field, and woke me to the dark?

No one speaks the language anymore, those who escaped
blamed hunger or weather when they spoke of the dark.

One summer, we traveled from country to country.
High on the mountain, village men stoked fires in the dark.

Only a thin pane between us and the frozen world—
the cold carries the smell of wood smoke in the dark.

Remember Audrey Hepburn in "Wait Until Dark,"
smashing the lights, making a deadly joke of the dark?

What faith we have in sleep, trusting our bodies will wake
while night fills our vacancies—shadow-strokes in the dark.

"Time hurries by and we're here and we're gone," warns the song.
Someone used to whisper Michelle and hold me in the dark.

--Michelle Gillett