Hearts of Darkness
The children venture
Into still deeps of forest,
its edges ink black,
A wall of silence.
Their lantern held high
Aloft, a sole point of light
Within the void,
Without the night.
An unseen city
Of sulking sentinel pines
Lies past the pall
On wich their light shines
So their eyes peer blind
Into the Heart of Darkness.
Hope pleads for calm;
Hearts throb on ceaseless,
Until the laugh of an owl
Echoes through the pallid gloom,
A throaty call
of innocence doomed.
Still later asleep,
The old night bird's cry resounds,
A knell that stains
Peace; the day confounds.