-- The Dawn Arrives by Appointment --

By John Herlihy

Dawn arrives by appointment,

The sun shines every which way.

The twilight feels as anointment,

The day finally sails itself away.

We speak of the length of time,

When we count the many hours.

Eternity vast as an ocean sublime,

As centuries exult in their powers.

At night when the world sleeps,

In slumberland my dreams beckon.

Night stalks as the panther creeps,

Unveiling mystery no one to reckon.

Nothing gives me treasured solace,

Others have a life, I have a routine.

Somebody content to be a nobody,

Free to know what things may mean.

If we are too quick to fall into despair,

Then we are too slow to recognize joy.

Some people find solace in prayer,

Other people a brutal fatalism deploy.

Sometimes it happens, at a certain hour,

With the sun low and shadows lengthen.

The day upon us wilts as a fading flower,

Joy and sorrow mingle in an hour forsaken.

If we reach down deeply into the silence,

Then nothing uninvited will ever be heard.

The quiet of solitude serves in compliance,

The vision of our inner eye clear, unblurred.

If the dawn light arrives by appointment,

At death’s door, we knock to take our leave.

To let go with no need for disappointment,

The story end told with no need for reprieve.

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Copyright © John Herlihy

Sunday 3 September 2023