The Longest Night

By Jessica Roper

Gleaming neon feathers 

project from the setting Sun,

bold and stunning against

purest periwinkle blue.

They break apart slowly,

forming soft, golden jumbles

of passionate light, a taste

of warmth to break the coming darkness.

Despite the strength of their glow,

spanning the full horizon 

to cast deep shadows 

against purpling Night,

their brightness begins to falter;

that vivid flash of gold

fades to glowing embers,

the shadow of its fiery blaze.

As each color dissolves

into the mysteries of twilight,

the slender curve of Moon

smiles wanly on the mesa.

Beneath her tranquil gaze,

the ravens return to their roosts,

making one final pass

to salute her with wingtips raised.

The deer settle beneath 

juniper trees, powerful with age,

their sturdy branches offering 

shelter from the cold.

A tall-eared hare darts

between clumps of sagebrush,

pausing to sniff the still air

before she seeks her nest.

Only the coyote stirs:

he meets the Moon’s

thin, steady gaze 

with gleaming eyes narrowed. 

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