Through the Trapdoor

Starry Night by Jorge Maia

 

The night is late.

Waves flutter at my feet with memories of light:

Belated stars, perhaps elsewhere extinguished. 

I’ve watched whole universes pass

Across the canvas of the sky

And melt away beyond the lake’s horizon.

 

And still you did not come.

 

Soon will be dawn.

The cricket’s song will die away 

And the ravine whence they have made my bed

Will paint its shadows silent.

Beneath this bloodied scythe I’m set to rest,

Never to rise again or feel this life’s embrace.

 

And still you did not come.

*

 

Weekly Writing Challenge: The Ray Bradbury Noun List Twist

1. Bradbury’s sample noun list. Write a new piece using at least five of the nouns from Bradbury’s sample list, above: The lake. The night. The crickets. The ravine. The attic. The basement. The trapdoor. The baby. The crowd. The night train. The fog horn. The scythe. The carnival. The carousel. The dwarf. The mirror maze. The skeleton.