Pioneer Valley Poetry Podcast- "A Walk Before Dawn"- by Rachel Loeffler

Thanks Izzi D’Amico and Pioneer Valley Poetry for featuring my poem, "A Walk Before Dawn"

https://pioneer-valley-poetry.com/2023/01/27/a-walk-before-dawn-rachel-loeffler/

A Walk before Dawn

By Rachel Loeffler

A Walk before dawn,

Two hours before sunrise,

Requires a night of early

Acquiescence.

Perhaps more,

Perhaps a month's full

Of nights--

Held suspended

Amongst early darkness.

Though a walk before dawn

Mirrors a walk after sunset,

The subtle reversal of events makes all the difference.

Instead of each step leading

Into darker dark

And colder cold...

A pre-dawn walk knows the light unseen

Will find its way, even if

Something goes wrong.

A Walk before dawn

Spurred by a soft glow

At the edges of black out curtains,

The ticking of a clock,

And a rejection of a month of closing in:

Hat and mittens,

Jacket upon jacket,

Leash and headlamp.

Before breakfast, before coffee--

As tonight will be darker,

As so will the next.

Stepping out into a world

that could be either-Morning or Night.

The only hint under cloud cover

Are the yellow stars on my pajamas

Almost invisible on their navy-blue cloth,

Cuffs stuffed into faux fur winter boots,

Hidden against the morning's night.

Dec 8, 2021,

By Rachel Loeffler