End of August

August.

End of August and the bonfire smoke

climbs up the apple tree,

obscures the leaves and fruit

 and double masks the cloud-veiled, rounded moon.

Into the silence a dull apple thud.

and screech owl, calling, far away.

Twigs crackle

while the witch leans on her stick and smiles into the dark.

The moon, amazed,

stares at the sudden bonfire blaze

as cloud and smoke are gone.

Ten Good Reasons to Walk at Night.

First, you get to wear the invisible cloak

bespoke

fitting better than through the day.

You can drift in the dark

or sit on a tussock

and mull over things.

Those pink rubber flutes, called ears,

are finely attuned

to the drop of a leaf,

the air's sigh,

the heart beat of a deer.

Sharp edges, that might do harm in daylight

are softened by shadows in the night.

There is flight from the mundane.

The sixth good reason

 is  the sense that comes over you in darkness,

call it a, 'sixth sense',

about how things were, and are and will be.

And seventh is the heaven on a clear night

of seeing bears, both great and small

and myriads of others with no name at all.

There is no traffic spoiling,

no noise of people toiling.

An owl may call you

when you walk at night,

moving quietly,

cloak-covered and complete.