Image by bess.hamiti@gmail.com from Pixabay
Publication Date: February 2026
Location: PoetsOnline.org, specifically the Ages of the Day issue.
Genesis: This piece was inspired purely by the prompt given by PoetsOnline.org; there is no previous backstory to it (which is quite unusual for me!).
However, of all the “dawn” images I had to choose from, this particular one caught my eye (and my heart) because on February 13 (a Friday) I found Olive-Cat dead in the garden. I created a little coffin for her and buried her the same afternoon. She, together with her sister, her daughter, and her nephew, have all been a part of the family for about 15 years, and her loss hit me harder than I’d expected. In fact, she is Baast in an earlier piece, Baast Accepts a Tribute.
Night
pales into insignificance.
Dawn blinks, burps,
and blushes a pale pink
as the Morning Star winks,
knowingly.
The tawny falls quiet,
creating space
for blackbird,
coal tit,
thrush.
The sun doesn’t rise,
as such.
Rather, the Earth turns,
gradually revealing more
of our nearest
and friendliest
star.
This day
has never dawned before
and it will never
pass this way
again.