Nocturne I I arrived to a sky satiny black, sprinkled with a million stars fading, fading in the light of a just-waning moon flooding the heaven & sea. A flash of bright catches the edge of mine eye. In the late hours of the night, a bird call echoes beneath the moonshine. Swaying somnolent in a cocoon hammock, I hear the wind & the rain I seek … or so I think. Nocturne II This eve, the sun sets, clouds absorbing the colors & the sky with only a few stars unwrapped, free from the nebulous shroud. The wind rustles palm & almond leaves, the sea rolling & breaking roaring & crushing, darkness so complete. In this obscurity, I sit watching the flame of a waning candle burn higher, wavering in this breeze. My mind passes to past phases of this life. A place remembered by this same sea many moons away, feeling peace amidst uncertainty, torn from this sea, my Spirit home, forced into Hejira. Those times, those feelings long washed away by the tides of other seas. Nocturne III I had hoped to see the stars shine once more this night, to see that moonsheen serpentining across the waves. Why am I still here? What lessons await me this night? What dream is to be dreamt, what Light to be seen before the dawn? This night’s wind scuttles clouds, obscuring the satin-black sky … I wish it would sweep away, revealing the stellar multitudes & the crystalline moon. This darkness brings memories on the flame bending in a breeze that denies me the stars & moon, that denies me the soothing rain. A cricket sings … its chirrups suddenly falls silent Nocturne IV Make a wish, make a wish, put a voice to your desires … The winds gusts & quiets … I walk out to see the sky satiny & strewn with that multitude of stars over the ocean, the clouds shoving towards the mountains. Make a wish, make a wish upon a newly revealed star … Nocturne V Once more that cricket sings & many more besides … & some bird in measured bars, the canto constant beneath this liberated heaven. The sky lightens with the approaching moon yet cocooned by remnant clouds. I await her freedom, rising golden-red into the royal sky large, her light across the calmer sea, the wind calmed to a subtle breeze. I have written one candle away & another, a third now waning with each flame-waver in the breeze that comes, that goes. Nocturne VI The breeze comes, rustling leaves, crickets sing. The breeze goes, that bird … & a gecko … The moon is higher. The palm & almond leaves silhouette against her luminance … she casts their long shadows. Only the westernmost stars are visible … Nocturne VII A male wind gusts, swirling fallen leaves across the sandy yard, the coarse grasses stirring, the steady wash of the waves agitated to a louder crush. That harsh wind comes, it goes, leaving a softer female breeze, leaves shuffling like the sound of rain falling … … but it is only a zephyr … a zephyr through stiff leaves … Nocturne VIII Large moonlight patches this hour before midnight. The lune, the wind, the stars & song – these words cocoon me, energy flowing from moon & candlesheen to this page illuminated by those lights. Dreams awaiting me, meditations therein to understand memories – events passed, events passing & yet to be past … Lessons to learn, Light to be dawned … The wind through leaves like rain …
by Lorraine Caputo
Lorraine Caputo is a documentary poet, translator and travel writer. Her works appear in over 300 journals on six continents; and 19 collections of poetry – including On Galápagos Shores (dancing girl press, 2019) and Escape to the Sea (Origami Poems Project, 2021). She also authors travel narratives, articles and guidebooks. Her writing has been honored by the Parliamentary Poet Laureate of Canada (2011) and nominated for the Best of the Net. Caputo has done literary readings from Alaska to Patagonia. She journeys through Latin America, listening to the voices of the pueblos and Earth.
Aayo Magazine 
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