We start to know time
by different signs —
When the crickets get louder
and the turkeys make their afternoon rounds,
there are three more hours of daylight
and dusk will come soon

The work we started
when the day was wide and hopeful
now looms against the light’s boundary
like the shadows that now stretch
across the valley

We stop when it’s too dark to see
and evening’s light show awes us
with its ever-different glory.
Time to pause
and let gratitude rise from within,
about two hours before the stars begin.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 30, 2016