Not to Forget

by Stephen Damon

The night is washed clean

with morning dew

and chilled sunlight

 

removing all trace

of the distance of stars

and memories of midnight.

 

In the morning light

wisps of life float as dreams

in the summer breeze.

High above me

a raven in long black robes

of an unknown order

 

shatters the morning

with a solemn warning

to not forget

 

the hope of dawn

as the week wears on,

nor to forget

 

why I awoke

early enough to hear

God’s own liturgy

of sunrise psalms

and antiphons

in avian song.

Bows,

Stephen