it is light

If I've ever loved anything truly,
it is light.

It does not cease to captivate me
to silence me the truest feat
to bring every part of me quiet
to a gentle and steady hum.

Nor does it cease
to surprise me with its beauty, its facets
its ever changing visage
and thus, the words I bring forth
to recall it to you
neither match my feelings or its truth.

(I am not alone in my affection,
the clouds too hold its fleeting rosy tones,
this last bit of day as long as allowed)

The end of each day the most bittersweet
the long night laid out ahead,
just I and the dark.

Yet it dawns just the same every morning,
unless one does not wake,
and in its paleness filtered through the clouds
or in its brilliant cleansing scorch,
hot enough to burn away
all the bitterness built up in the dark,
I am burnt clean.

-Elizabeth Ashton