After a Brilliant Afternoon (Day 13)

Photo: Hannah Six

After a Brilliant Afternoon

By Hannah Six

After a brilliant afternoon,

the shortest night 

would, of course, 

seem longer, darker, 

riddled with frightening 

dreams—carnivals of scarlet,  

gilt, and mirror, chaotic

two-dimensional 

renderings of  dissonance, 

frenzied 

energy, whose pace 

would burst 

the Herculean heart

of slanting Secretariat—

yet even he has fallen.

Dawn will break 

again, a fine cobalt—

soon bright, burning— 

line on the horizon, 

beyond the sycamores

and soaring 

pines. 

Patience, then, and, in 

the mean– 

[the trickling
in-between 

time],
rest, look 

up and count 

the boundless, shimmering stars.

(c) 2017, by Hannah Six