dawn revealing different darkness / taking shape
/ persisting  gradual surround / to walls shelf clock /
a slender second / soft beating / until until until  /
herself /
she leans toward appearing
/
earth and pine unscrew scent /
/ bird sharps questions to the air / answers here and there
and more yearn than yearn can bear / toward distant places

yearned awake / memory thinks lake /
amber clear / except for silt of seed and leaf / touching
toes in soft decay / the plumes of black they make / and trying
not to fear / to not attempt escape /
to not forget to wait / for what will come / certainly

still /
be /
confident

to feel / to go
where light increased will press upon the back /
sun brush early whisper on the skin / spill
what it saw the day before / tell where it travelled in the night /
then dark was quiet listening / now full glistening /

poem and photograph by Jo Mariner