Child's Play

In the thick darkness 
before the dawn
children played in a pool of light.
The hesitant women, 
all innocence gone,
crossed the garden
barely looking right 
or left,
filled with darkness 
of the mind sunk in loss. 
But the children
followed as they picked their way
left the security of their play
left the rhymes and songs they knew
picked a candle from the ground
followed the footprints till they saw
a dawn break unexpectedly
saw the lights and heard the cries
saw a glimpse of angel wings
saw a huge rock on its side
and though they did not understand
knew the dark would not return.

© C.M.M. 

The photo shows the ceremony of the New Light, the lighting of which precedes the first Eucharist of Easter, in the grounds of Holy Trinity Church Dunoon this evening.