Sonnet for a Hard Road

xviii.

Driving up here tonight, where from the dark
Shadow of the road the valley lights spread
Beneath our feet, two moonlit shadows marked
Our place, as the world blinked silent and dead.
You came here, not me. I only followed,
And wondered where out there would you now wish
To be, if not with me. That Apollo
You seek, is he there? Is that his ghost which
You see hiding in the strange, twinkled gloom?
Tell me, I'm not afraid. It's your remove
That upsets me. It's your dreams which now loom
So distant, while I stand wordless, unused.
How we stare, in darkness, nothing to speak
And the lights so close, so out of our reach.