first light

First Light

The roofs are still
but the sky begins to loosen—
a pale seam of rose
threading the horizon.

He sits in the quiet
before the town stirs,
jacket slack on his shoulders,
eyes catching the faintest
silver of daybreak.   

Before bells peal,
no bird in flight—
only the promise
that the dark has thinned,
and the world
is willing to begin again.

.