The afternoon is fading

A softness seeps across the sky

Clouds are melting

Into a golden wash

That flows over all

Painting out the details

Rendering into silhouette

Dark phantoms

Touched with bright haloes

That do not reveal their faces

Huddled together

A dark forest

Growing

Even as you watch

Filling up the space

As the night rolls down

The light draining away

Deep into the horizon

Like the blood of the day

Pooled darkly

In the shallows

© Ann Bagnall