In the Midnight Hour

This, too, is an old story, yet
It is not death. Still,

The waters of darkness are in us.
In fact, they are rising,

And rising toward our eyes.
And will wash against those windows

Until they have stilled, until,
Utterly calm, they have cleansed.

And then our lives will take substance,
And rise themselves.

And not like water, and not like darkness, but
Like smoke, like prayer.


--Charles Wright