Susan Terris: "Matin and Vesper"

At the beginning of day,
rubythroat and trill of a tree frog.
Cicadas blade songs of immortality
as on an ancient Chinese scroll,
and sun through fog
burns a promise of warmth.
Steps on a path are straight
as we angle into light, hearing
leaf-whisper of
verses to be hymned.

When darkness swallows light,
a bat rises lofting
his delicate, webbed prison.
Waterstriders skim,
and a rising bass fins circles 

on the surface of a lake.
Wrapped in the blanket of evening,
we watch the circles, listen
as they lap to infinity.
Stay. Keep watch with us.

"Matin and Vesper" by Susan Terris. Text as published in Schuylkill Valley Journal and The Talking Stick. © Susan Terris. Reprinted by permission of the poet.

Art credit: "Ripples created by an insect known as the water strider," photograph by Mike Laptew.