Late Afternoon

by Bonnie Demerjian

It’s no puzzle why this time of day is what it is.
The exhalation of hours propels unwilling spirits toward a darkness
too much like the end.
All activity unwinds, an exhausted clock.
The last reluctant grains of sand cling to the glass.
The day gobbled up by insatiable time leaving only crumbs for furious ravens.
At 4 pm there is no appetite for more.
Happy hour or tea in another land may be a bridge across the quicksand
into the arms of evening’s welcome routine
where expectation and meaning are set aside like unanswered mail.
With supper, dishes, books, or screens
the end of day trickles toward bed and the hope that the nightwolves,
Held at bay by warm milk and a long novel,
will circle, curl, and, like us, find refuge on the island of sleep.

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Bonnie Demerjian writes from her home in the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska, a place that nourishes her writing. Her poetry has appeared in Tidal Echoes, Alaska Women Speak, and Blue Heron Review, among others. She has also written four books on the area’s human and natural history.