Lakeside at Nightfall

..........Croakings of bullfrogs
gather like an ancient chorus
on this evening when that redorange eye
blinkless, peerless, storms
in an almost unmuttered memory
through bones of surging antique blood.

Lights from homes starlight
the lake top as bass rise
and fireflies brighten
as though in a last torment
before they vanish black
into the night sounds
of dozing docks
creaking gently, sawing
like all these turning lives
into pink streaks of morning.

......... This night, this sonata
of light, enlists its own shadows
that encircle its meaning,
and takes on prehistoric shapes
before outflanking dawn.

Richard Alan Bunch, who holds degrees from Vanderbilt and the University of Memphis, is a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee and the author of several chapbooks, including Greatest Hits: 1970-2000, Wading the Russian River, and Rivers of the Sea. His poetry has appeared in the Oregon Review, Many Mountains Moving, Xavier Review, Albatross, Windsor Review, California Quarterly, Cold Mountain Review, Fugue, Kennesaw Review, Slant, and the Hawai’i Review. His latest poetry collection, Running for Daybreak, was published by Mellen Poetry Press. He resides with his wife and family in Davis, California.