Day done, the coolness settled in,
dark enough for lights indoors
but not outside

Cricket choruses pulse distinctly
from different spots –
the group in the old maple
gives way, as I walk by,
to the one in the blackberry patch,
both two-toned, wide-intervaled and strong

Then a moment of relative quiet
before I step among the firs,
where it sounds like more crickets,
but farther off, their pulse more subtle

In this time before night,
they hold the strong cords
that carry us securely
through the transition.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 13, 2020