Late Evening

The moon hangs low in the sky.
A gleaming golden scimitar
suspended just below a shining Venus,
it lingers close to the horizon
as though wanting to touch
with crescent arms
the belly of the earth.


The realms are close tonight,
evoking desert sands
and ancient gods.


From planet and moon
an inverted question mark
forms against a deepening
purple sky.


But here, at ten o’clock
on a western summer evening
is a moment not to question
but only to absorb,
to really see,
to form lips
in a blessing and a prayer,
to breathe in
the essence of a scimitar sky
and inhale the purple
of being alive.
-Suzanne Graham