Grace by Francette Cerulli

We must not turn on the lights in our houses 
until the sun has been down for one hour.

We must sit here at the window, or there 
on the porch, or just around the kitchen table,

wherever it catches us,
and watch it leave.

We must remember the time when 
we had nothing against the dark.

We must remember the easy grace 
of letting darkness fall.

~from The Spirits Need To Eat (Nine-Patch Press, 1999)