Night, back East, is cool and soft,
With air so thick it can't wait
Until morning to drop its dew.
Heavy grass brushes ankles,
Its wet wicking up the legs of jeans.
The sky is black with bright points,
Some falling like the dew,
And the river, wide here like a lake,
Laps against the edge of the yard.
Shivering, we move to the cement stoop,
Put on thin jackets, and quietly
Draw in the night's damp blessing.

Erna Kelly taught in the English Department at UW-Eau Claire from 1983 to 2011. She has poetry in Peace of the Valley, Wisconsin Poets Calendar, Voices of "White Pine", and Upriver: The Wisconsin English Journal. To learn more about Erna, go here.

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