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Brand New Day
By
Rusty Broadspear
A dark moonlit field sloped down away from me,
To a small copse of trees that sipped life from a small pond.
In the centre of the field was a dog, an old collie dog,
Head thrown back in silhouette, howling in bemusement
Or maybe terror.
I was scared. Had I woken from life into a nightmare?
So quiet and still except for howling that filled the air.
The Moon was full to bursting; looking up, it hurt my eyes,
It was then I noticed there was something terribly wrong
With our skies.
The blinding Moon was accompanied by a solitary star
So high and alone in this heavenly clear night-time blue.
Petrified, terrified. Was this an omen? I thought of you
And your sleepy head. I thought of home. I thought of bed
And loneliness too.
So, during the day, what secret skeletal phantom figure
Had swept away the stars? The dog’s howl was deeper, higher,
Louder, more sinister. The sky darkened, but not accompanied
By additional stars. Did the Moon then shake imperceptibly,
Or move just a tad?
Eyes darting from dog to Moon, Moon to dog, back to moon.
Dog’s now at bottom of field, near the trees, didn’t see him run.
Huge shadow zipped across the grass. Looked up just in time
To see the Moon settle back, after a lightening quick downward arc,
Must have skimmed my head.
I was on my knees, in a vacuum of eerie graveyard silence,
The dog was gone, was dead, had run or was lying low and quiet.
A slight shift of lighter then darker I looked to the sky,
The man in the Moon laughed silently, mockingly, looking down at me
With a badly burnt out eye.
From my coat pocket I pulled a can of Coke, still chilled and wet,
Looking refreshingly real.
Silly, but I thought of the old Ad. ‘Come alive with Coca Cola,’
I hummed it at first, then sung it, then cracked open the can,
Sprinkling this golden liquid over the grass. I ran round the field,
Yelling the song, screaming it, praying it. Tears, tune and words
Flew like spittle into the night air.
I fell into the Earth, like a dead weight, stumbling over the dog.
He whimpered and wagged and chuffed, burying his snout
Into my neck. I reached out an arm and hugged him, he was so real.
Shovelling his head under me, he wanted to play - so I rolled over.
The Sun was so warm and bright, ice blue sky and whitest of clouds,
Birds flew and chattered, an empty can lay nearby,
This was a brand new day.
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