Quiet Face of Dawn

Guarding the dawn on a winter morning

Quiet is the face of dawn

from the nightward side.

the cold is colder and dark darker

as day slips into the air

and mixes with the night.

Stillness precedes the frost

and a crispness sharpens even the sounds

as the temperatures crouchs lower

preparing to for its pounce.

The soldiers’ whispers carry, crisper,

reflected from the frost that permeates the soul.

And across the dawn, the thin light spreads

revealing the truth of the firefight

and what is left of the soldiers

guarding their holes.

Stand-to brings the faces to the light

as the soldiers stand to guard the night

as it retreats to their backs and brings the false dawn

The fluorescence of the twilight

glimmers in the hanging fog

that issues from the mouths of the guardians

standing in their holes on frozen feet

and shaking knees and praying for the sun

to warm their bones.

Reviews

[Mark]

You don't know what the dawn means until you've spent a cold night in a hole in the ground.