So Late the Darkness

So late, so late the darkness trembled down when we were younger And dusk the color of purple and scented like wild sweet grapes Drifted across the meadows and over the eaves of the evening; So long the daylight lingered and we watched its bright escapes.

We were children then and our books and our pencils were waiting Till we played at run sheep run, red light, and devil may care; We called out the scores and we laughed and we hid again in the hedges And we prayed to the God of our childhood that still there was gold in the air.

We are older now, we are wiser; but wisdom can never repay us For the light we have lost from our hearts in the day that closes early; There is no pause in its going, no pause like the breathing in music, The dark comes swiftly now, on the red heels of the sunset nearly.

And the clock grows ever impatient; it talks with itself on the wall, And we rise in the dark from our supper and unsteadily climb the stairs To lie in our beds fighting slumber and loneliness, each to each, And wonder what power has stolen the lavender light from our years.