Sweet Darkness

 

“Nightfall” by Trevor Jessop

 

some nights roll in

grab the ground

and refuse to let go

cop an attitude

daylight be damned

fuck the fiction of sunshine

its central conceit

that illusion of blue

when the truth is

the sky has no color at all

the bright light of the day

so pretty with pretense

serves only to show

ugly patterns of scars

the grim record of wounds

men inflict upon time

stark behaviors revealed

in the skin of their sin

worst of all is the cruelty

inherent in sunrise

its sharp yellow edges

with wanton abandon

decapitate dreams

murder sleep in its beds

night would never

give showcase to shame

never sully the lull

of a satiny moonglow

a softer world cast

in more delicate deep

chiaroscuro existence

a filtered reality set up

as time and as place

in which even the

artists of war take their rest

some nights roll in

in full rigor

of righteousness

make valiant stand

hold horizons as prisoners

intending that soul-weary

damaged mankind

sleep the sleep of the dead

for as long as it needs

to gain ethical healing

awake and emerge

all the better ingrained

with a newborn nobility

ah but alas in the end

notwithstanding the

strength of its virtue

sweet darkness of nightfall

must too soon and always

succumb to the blaze

of a merciless dawn