Blue Night

by John Herlihy

What might a blue night of winter say,

As it steals all vibrant color from the day,

What does a night without daylight signify,

When ghostly spirits on moon and stars rely.

The brilliant color of the day now drained,

The pale face of the full moon now stained.

A perpetual twilight on the horizon lingers,

Spreading shadowy light with tender fingers.

Now merged as one reality dawn and dusk,

Ears hear nothing, but the nose smells musk.

In the atmosphere, whispers of feathers soft,

A fallen angel on extended wings held aloft.

Luminosity in the darkness never fully dark,

Eerie silence that need be listened to, hark.

As in a cathedral sitting quietly in the nave,

A vast interior chamber in a mountain cave.

This dark world seemingly holding its breath,

Under the nighttime sky the stillness of death.

A darkness illuminated by aqua-marine blue,

In the star-studded heavens, solemn and true .

Faint light on the horizon that never quite dies,

A gentle touch of wind that whispers and sighs.

Earth and sky seamless, the hours without edge,

The tide of darkness utterly still, as if in pledge.

With silence enough to make one's ears ring,

With mystery that has the soul sweetly sing.

Perpetual day mirrored as perpetual night,

Flooding across the dark land bereft of light.

The midnight sun on the horizon makes way,

Wishing to take its leave still having to stay.

Silent solitude hovers over the Arctic Circle,

Sharing the magnitude of this rarefied miracle.

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Copyright © John Herlihy

Tuesday 16 December 2025