Meridian

In the burning daze

Of unnatural light

I took a long drive

Into the eveningOn the barracks road

Past the generals' eyes

Down to the seawall

Where the waves stand byThe enormous lull

Then a roar in the sky

And then the searchlights

Over the airfieldAnd over the ocean winging low

I saw the first wave

And the flares that fall

Like fireflies on the islandsIn the boom and swell

From the waves to the heights

Reverberations

Of our old livesLike a golden bell

That would ring through the night

And then the front moves

And we raise our eyes

In the silence of the islands