As moonlight silvered silhouettes of home
Internal restless chatter of dissent
Arose between unthinking Rest and Roam
"This bitter worrying will leave us spent!"
"Then tell us, prithee, where the hours went."
"Put out the light, it spills beneath the door!"
"Quite right, a shadow-veil will serve us more."
Decided, Khazemil scooped up the ash
Of cooling embers underneath his pot
And struck across his neck a sable dash
Bright innocence, how effortlessly sought!
The dismal lightbulb out, an afterthought
"Goodnight, late parchment visions in the gloom!
Awake, I seek a less depressing doom."
With silent measured steps and flicking gaze
Among entreating whisper-shadow forms
Where inky vapors fringed well-hidden ways
Blind wisps, far rustling, insensate swarms
His tunic blending in to vesper storms
The fox retraced his steps that afternoon
Invisible, enraptured, and immune
Night-damp the path retained its eager dust
No lamp, no eyes, no sign perturbed the way
One turn aside, "He's here, the one I trust!
I'll take him with me, only to relay
The danger of his nearing harvest day."
There was no lock, the orphan dog alone
Asleep, soft furry face as still as stone
Despite himself Khazemil lingered there
A fleeting thought, "Is it my right to choose?
Dark claws to pierce a youth yet sleek and fair—
Sharp claws to strike another fate and lose
The future I enjoin him to refuse."
With fear beyond what nighttime airs could voice
The fox reached out and trembling made his choice
"What's that? Who is it? Khazemil! So late!"
But from the somber gleaming in his eye
The dog fell silent, motioning to wait
Quick dressing in his amber robe whereby
The fox had good excuse to turn and cry.
"What happened yesterday is why I'm here,
I need your sober guidance, Merrasir."
A stripe of snow that split the charcoal mane
A swipe of ash, not one but two to hide
"I saw the endless dark, and asked in vain
How long I could go on without a guide,
My father said 'it ends today;' he lied—
I worked a day, and so I shall again
But I cannot recall what pulls me in."
❦