Midnight

How strange 
That in the cities
Of the night 
Contending armies
Battle for our souls 

Hope's pale forces
Assailed by dark despair
Shining kindness
By cruellest regiments
Of pain.

And then from 
An unexpected place
A soft effusion 
Of deep pacifying love

A cloak to gather round me
And a magic  Persian carpet
To carry me to sleep.

Into the cathedral
At the heart of light.

JL mid lent Sunday March 18 16:10