When days shorten

As happens this season

Then darkness comes so quickly

And the night stretches

To great lengths

And seems endless

As we hunker down with

Books and warm soups

And the flannel sheets

From the chest

Where they have slept

For months un-thought of

Sweaters appear and knit caps

And the barely worn wools

We venture out rarely

Into the black and the cold

Forgetting too often

That with the night comes darkness

But also stars.