As the Nights Grow Long

There’s a quiet velvety hush

this time of year

when nights speak

in deepening, darkening

shades of silence

and my body instinctively

leans in …

to listen and follow.

I lay upon my couch

and watch as the fire burns

its tethered flames

leaping and lunging

casting windy shadows

upon my gray-stained walls.

A sudden pop

stuns the silence

but doesn’t fracture it.

The silence is accentuated

even more because of it.

And as I breathe in

that sticky-sweet scent

of caramelizing wood,

my body begins to loosen

and I let go

into the feel of being lifted up

both soaring free

and still tucked in.

- Lauren Taub Cohen