Poetry | Awareness | Expectations

Nighttime Stillness

a quiet moment

photo by the author

nighttime stillness,
a breeze through the live oaks,

a mind full of slipknots
loosening,

tethers and tangles and tensions
finally falling away —

in this quiet moment, solace
at the end of a frenzied day, exhausted,

and the beginning
of a long relinquishing breath

before I go inside
to sleep —

leaping from the darkness,
a jubilant dog bounds into the porch light
and drops a ball at my feet

© John Allison Cannon

Just when you are finally able to rest, just when you get a chance to be still and alone and quiet, just when you need a break from all the activity of life, just when all you want to do is sleep, a ball drops at your feet. What will you do with it?

photo by the author: the dog who bounded into the porch light (ball out of frame)