<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="font-style: normal;" class=""><span class=""><span class="">Into The Dark</span></span><span class="" style="text-indent: 0in;"> </span></span></p><div class=""><br class=""></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;">Before first light — while stars still hike the night,<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;">a song mezzos across roofs, <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;">topples into the courtyard<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;">from a throat whose innocent feathered amazement praises <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;">what’s to come, <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><o:p class=""> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;">not the sun<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;">but the coming <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;">once again as never before, <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;">each note, fresh as a warble from a creek.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><o:p class=""> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;">O, bird of dawn, I too pray at such an hour<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;">while your orisons careen <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;">among crows’ caws and minute cheeps <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;">that signal your aria as done.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><o:p class=""> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;">No.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;">It is not done.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><o:p class=""> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;">When planets and stars are shrapnel,<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;">still your spangled song leads the dawn parade, <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;">flings its baton into the blackest sky <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;">to remind God again that everything thanks Him. <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><o:p class=""> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;">That it never ends. <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;">That everything was, first, the word.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;">And the word was Thanks. <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><br class=""></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Bruce Moody</p><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></body></html>