Afterwards

The world is quiet today.
Panera still plays their pop music
and the radio chirps on about a Christmas concert.
Conversation hums in the kitchen about the oranges
my mother brought home.
But there is a quiet unrivaled by this
Saturday noise.

To think,
yesterday I stepped into cool night,
the sunset like flame on the horizon-
a sliver of the moon,
the same moon that stood sentry in Paris,
that held off darkness until dawn.

A slowness.
I cling to it.
Let's please pause to breathe a while.
Please, let's pause to think on oranges
and sunlight-

the generosity of day,
and how some day, there will be
no more night.

and Jesus Himself will be our Light
and we will no longer need the moon
to hold our pain while we wait
for day.