As the sun sets

Never alone
in the circle…

as the sun sets,
shadows turn to dreams,
strung on a harp made of sleep,
chords I hardly hear
that cut my flesh

(and softly a play is set,
a play of ancient stones that hurt in the dying day
as I could not escape the levy they demanded,
though I never felt taxed).

Darkness sets a different stage,
a moon rises among stars
I never saw before;

Moon harps different chords,
nothing stirs,
yet all is moving
like a cool breeze in summer,
waking a soft song of new light –

I never really slept
under this moon, these stars,
finding words behind the pain, the shadows,
words spoken in the wake
of those dreams.

In this darkness there are fewer
ghosts now,
my own voice more true,
calling dawn to me
to melt the stone

Pay your due, but nay
I stumble into a new day,