Advent (Mim Kagol)

Go to the window and see.
At five o’clock in early December
day fades fast across the neighborhood
and night, heavy and inevitable,
spreads its weight.

The weary light trembles
over yards and driveways,
is pushed aside, and
twilight settles in.

Now established, the night grows
into a backdrop for holiday cheer:
strings of glowing gumdrops, foolish
and joyful, that loop in trees and light
the eaves and rooflines.

And then—keep looking!
At last there across the marsh
you will see stars blink on high
and higher, pure white light
burning hot against time,
against space, making
their own argument
against the dark.

See? Do you
see them?