Nothing Around Got Dark

Nothing Around Got Dark

g knapton

On Easter Day I kneel and pray

Before the church’s clerk

And afterwards collect my thoughts

Whilst idling through the park

The sun fell through the western skies

Off shore the gulls did lark

The night came back

The sky turned black

But nothing around got dark

The headland lights of Shoreham bay

Weave round me in an arc

And through the streets the Bedlam beats

Of Whitehawk dogs do bark

Not one ship set a-sail

At least, no sea-bound lights did spark

My vision fell

And night did dwell

But nothing around got dark

I searched for coins between the groynes

Where smugglers disembark

Where untold wealth awaited men

More stealthy than the shark

I strolled the Palace gardens

Where the King’s men once did hark

I heard a clock strike midnight’s hour

But nothing around got dark

I skimmed ten pebbles off Hove beach

As if to make my mark

Each aim – to clear the old West Pier’s wrought iron

Standing stark

I made for home still all alone

As nascent dawn did nark

Today becoming yesterday

When nothing around got dark*

*Easter is on the first full moon after the Spring Equinox, lighting the sky for Christians to pilgrimage at night. It moves for Jesus. Easter is the moveable feast. Nothing around gets dark.

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