Night casts its shadow

Castleton, Derbyshire

Night casts its shadow;

green hills washed with grey,

as day’s eyelids

become heavy

with the demands of rest.

Ducks, now silent,

shelter from the blindness

while the constant chatter

is now Peakshole Water,

rushing to the Noe.

Evening prayers rise -

'Be our light in the darkness, O Lord,

 and in your great mercy
defend us from all perils and dangers of this night’,

like incense

and the ghosts of smoke  

from chimneys

as fires burn quietly 

to ash 

in abandoned grates.