Twilight - Hanne Bramness

I would

                lift up my eyes

            see the evening

sink down into the light

descend on

                    words    streets I knew were there

       and grass

                      the room high up still warm

from the sun

abundant     unattainable sun

                                              (of no return      in its own

turning)      lingering still

quietly on birds' wings

over the city

                       and Rosa Luxemburg

    - for her part

                               would continue standing in the middle of

the street

numbering the stars as they came out

                                                                  lit it would seem

      by the birds

flying high

                    in the warm sky       the unfathomable depth

      of the eyes

counting        reading another day's end

into night-fall

caught

            between following the day's procedure out of habit

     and not wanting

its

     inevitable ending

                                  caught between rest and making

the moment last

between being impressed by - and making

an impression

                        unwilling to leave the mild air

seeing the grocer's boys and other boys running   

shouting out

                    into the disappearing light

and the twilight

                                     that opening

between work and supper and

                                        carrying the garbage out

       lovers leaning toward each other

imagining the air

       caring

                   in which day and night were so gently caressing one another

---

Hanne Bramness (born 1959) Norway

Source: Pages 33-40, Nov 1987 [available at Jacket 2]