robert p. tristram coffin
Someone whom no man can see
Is lighting candles in the tree
Star by star on every bough
There is a taper burning now.
Quietly, the forest through
Eyes are lit up, two by two
The silkly moles and velvet mice
Have eyes as sharp as cracks of ice
Dark-lanterns of the owls begin
To burn like emeralds and sin
The raccoon built of hidden wire
Prowls by the glow of his brain-fire
Herons stand as still as years
And see the fish swim through their tears
All the creatures of the night
Are busy being their own light.
