After Dark

~

a hexagonal green gazebo 

with transparent gauze walls

neither tent nor fortress,

firmly tethered on the lawn 

a newly landed spacecraft

has captured my granddaughter, 

it has been decided, we are 

to sleep out under the stars

no rain forecast and little wind,

a sleepover with Papa 

in the wild, one night only, 

albeit on well-inflated mattresses,

a quiet clear night, occasionally 

thin clouds seem to skip past

my supine vision,

at 2am low in the east

Jupiter, resting on a neighbour’s roof, 

makes his escape 

climbing higher in the blue black,

I listen to her light breathing

we’d held hands as she drifted off

around midnight 

all her night fears conquered, 

 I would have liked to have 

followed Jupiter’s path for longer 

but a metal woodpecker 

fastened to the cherry

obscures my view,

 now and then

the lank gauze material 

billows feebly resembling

an apologetic farewell wave 

that briefly catches my attention

a little mysterious all the same

on such a still warm night

*

© Graham R Sherwood 08/23