Shadows murmur
across the hills --
voices, faint,
an ancient chorus.
A tired season
slowly enters
sleep's provence.
Sighs linger,
caught ephemeral,
in vapors or
     in dreams.
Secrets, older than
     centuries,
long to be revealed.
Smoke and dusk
     embrace;
old eyes strain --
deaf ears fall
     short
of forgotten lore,
the meaning lost.
Silent footfalls
follow vague
     whispers.
Fires flicker, fade.
This landscape,
     growing dim,
transverses night
and time.