Shadows climbing

Shadows climb the trees,

slowly, like sloths,

a branch at a time.

High leaves, like moths,

flap gently with the last

late fading sunlight

till everything but sky

succumbs to night.

Then that, too, turns its back

on day at last,

day's drama at an end,

and constellations cast

their pale, small, distant glow

on the now-dark land,

and sleep-inducing breeze

sifts us like sand.

(c) Copyright 2000. The Christian Science Publishing Society