Poem: Amidst the Deepening Shadows, a Cry

Make haste
You're late.
The sun has set
And the darkness is deepening.
The cry that you hear,
That you keep hearing,
is more distant now
And you're beset with
Thickets and bushes that grasp
At your limbs and clothes,
Slowing your every step.

Break into a run now
If your aching limbs, your burning lungs,
Allow it.
Because each yard
Will seem like a mile
After nightfall
Each step
Will sap your courage.

The night is deepening.
Fields and forests and rocky outcrops
Are now shadows that menace
The mind.
What do you see? Beware, it is a lie.
Each step is a stumbling block.
What seems like soft grass
Will shred your feet like glass.

Yet make haste. You're late.
The cry that you heard, that you kept hearing,
is but a silence now.

Search now in panic. But where?
Grope in the dark bushes... but for what?

Ah, but you've walked too many miles,
Traveller,
To hold a cold, lifeless hand
And know what you've known all along:
You're late.