Hammer Of Night

As the hammer of night fell

I went down the hill

Where the forest cleared

To see it touch the snow

Like a barrel

I strained to see the shape

It moaned but would not be seen

When the light was gone

I went to where it had struck

A pit of ice had sunken

Footholds smoothed from the walls

A hole aimed up

Like a black pupil

Too deep to see

With blue rippled walls

The air slid down

Where the hammer of night fell

I lit a fire

And felt the dusting snow

Beside me the flakes slid in

I fell asleep

By the pit of ice

Soon I was climbing steps in a garden

With the smell of wet mud

Toward a bull with no eyes