Selene casts her silver cape across the sky and gazes coldly
as bats exchange their hanging world for dance,
flashing over the sable sky in half-seen streaks.
Lights rash across the land and man's fear of darkness breaks the night
with candle, lamp and fluorescence.

What dimly remembered horrors stalked the hours
and drove us fearful and small into the firelight's globe?
What beasts, what demons stood beyond the reach of sight
and kept us huddled, staring back until the dawn?

Selene passes on and weeps for her wasted beauty,
her cape faded and shrunken in the waxing day.
Saving her perfect desire in starry softness,
she prepares herself with eager hope and prays
there will be someone who steps outside the light
and, looking up, remembers how to love the night.