Again I ask
       how many dawns ?
I wake to rain
       pelting the roof tiles
to a dawn chorus
       sung slightly off-key
to a damp world
       and the muffled sound
of trains rattling
       through the distance

We all have places to go
       and places to stay
and bridges to cross
       before we put the past
behind us and seek
       to atone
for all the errors
       all the mistakes

Only in the immaculate darkness
       do the stars shine
and last night before I slept
       I counted them and felt
at peace with their pulse
       running through me :
imperfect though we are
       they are there to guide us
to fill us with a necessary
       sense of purpose – namely
to make love and in so doing
       to shine

John Lyons