For You

listen: the stars whisper their ancient light into you...

Photo by Vincent Chin on Unsplash

For You

should you find yourself outnumbered 
  and the moon in her haste
    has abandoned you 

listen: the stars whisper 
  their ancient light into you
    across the immeasurable
      distance
        a sound like the 
  rustling of leaves

when shadows surround you
     clicking their claws against stone
        ask the wind to bring memories 
     of those who stood here before 
       like oaks against 
         impossibility

let the certainty of loneliness fill
    your hollowness with strength
       the inevitability of silence fill you 
    with a stainless resolve

if the abyss of night 
   engulfs you
    reach into the cold stream 
       of your own light 
     patient and unwavering 

        wear the amulet of 
 what you know is true and

when the scaled voices 
     around you fade 
       there is one who will 
          guide you

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Sean Downing, poet, musician, teaches high school English and Theater Arts in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. He can often be found in his woodshop, coaxing music from odd scraps of junk, or haunting the trout streams around southwest Colorado. If you see him, don't tell anyone: they're probably looking to get an honest day's work out of him.

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