<html aria-label="message body"><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><span style="font-size: 22px;">Aubade For The Quiet House</span><div style="font-size: 22px;"><br></div><div style="font-size: 22px;">I awaken to a still dark room</div><div style="font-size: 22px;">No sound to acknowledge a new day</div><div style="font-size: 22px;">No sense of the dream that woke me</div><div style="font-size: 22px;"><br></div><div style="font-size: 22px;">The silent saluki across my feet</div><div style="font-size: 22px;">is, like me, not moving but awake</div><div style="font-size: 22px;">His eyes as always awaiting my move</div><div style="font-size: 22px;"><br></div><div style="font-size: 22px;">Was it like this yesterday</div><div style="font-size: 22px;">and the day before</div><div style="font-size: 22px;">dreamless dark and silent</div><div style="font-size: 22px;"><br></div><div style="font-size: 22px;">Will it be like this tomorrow </div><div style="font-size: 22px;">or will we be able tome freely</div><div style="font-size: 22px;">call out an aubade to the morning</div><div style="font-size: 22px;"><br></div><div style="font-size: 22px;">Open to what once was as natural</div><div style="font-size: 22px;">as the sun falling across your face</div><div style="font-size: 22px;">as natural as another day of living</div><div style="font-size: 22px;"><br></div><div style="font-size: 22px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Fran Claggett-Holland</div><div style="font-size: 22px;"><br></div><div style="font-size: 22px;"><br></div><div><br></div></body></html>