Night Fall

Clouds, rain-laden
Dark as bruises
Suspend from
Early-autumn skies.

I sit by the window
Television droning
Unwatched.
Mindless chatter.

Soon the firmament will darken
Black as Lucifer’s heart
Empty as a winter barn
Cold as river ice.

Moments like these reckon
Those that follow
Resisting hollowness
Or yielding to loneliness.

Somewhere in western skies
A pumpkin sun sets, but not here.
Here darkness beckons
Within night's priestly robes.