Darkness Falling - June 25 2026

 

Darkness Falling

June 25 2026

Darkness falls.

As I feel the cooling air settle.

As if the impenetrable night

had density,

as opaque as an ingot of steel.

As if light was lighter than air

as buoyant as a noble gas.

The warm light of day

raising the blue dome of sky

high over our heads.

Bad things happen at night

under cover of dark.

Vice reigns,

temptation beckons,

sinners fall.

While the virtuous huddle inside

in artificial light

as if that will protect them.

From the warm glow of my cozy den

the picture window

that overlooks the woods

is an impervious black wall.

It looks chilly out there,

the forest

where I’m so at home

now seems menacing. 

So why am I so tempted

to venture out?

As if darkness had a gravity

I can’t resist.

As if the air

had a reassuring weight

I could lean against,

would part before me

like a cool liquid

against my skin.

And beneath it

the land was uncannily still,

a frozen tableau

only I

could move freely through;

stepping out of time

and observing the world

as no one had before.

I’m very nocturnal — late to bed and late to rise — which I know can strike people as lazy, even decadent; but which to me is innate — my lifelong chronotype. So I suppose this is another poem (seems to me I’ve written many) trying to explain the appeal of night. Or perhaps more accurately, of darkness. There is a stillness, a peace, and a privacy to it. It almost seems that time goes more slowly. And it also has an edge of mystery, as well as possibility.  So as I sat, looking at that black wall of glass, I felt more aroused and attracted than repelled. 

We often use the metaphor “night falling”. I enjoy deconstructing metaphors by posing as a concrete thinker, taking them literally. Which was a helpful way to enter into this poem. And it does feel like it literally falls: the weight of the cool air, the density of the darkness.

 Before artificial light and illuminated city streets, night was particularly dangerous. A place for muggers, thieves, and ladies of the night. While out in the country, wolves roamed, wild animals preyed, malevolent spirits emerged from their hiding holes. So the advent of gas illumination brought a radical cultural change, as well as a certain political ferment. People could congregate at night, more freely walk the streets. Life was transformed.