POEMS
DORIS LESSING
The Wolf People
In the Long Dark
It was dark then,
Weight of dark,
Night all around.
In the cave fire sinks, breathes deep,
Sleepers in furs dream
Light may never return,
The red fire in the sky never rise again,
The dark lie heavy for ever.
One sits at the cave mouth,
Sky full of small lights
Making shadows dark on dark .
No danger.
He knows each stone branch log
By its shadow as his feet know the earth.
Nothing that is not known is near.
Threat begins at the trees' edge.
His eyes move, from close
to
far,
Then back, and again ...
Then the sky goes dark,
Clouds spin above,
Heavy dark clings to skin and lashes like fog.
Black. Silent.
Wind brings a rank smell.
His skin is tight with fear.
