Nightfall

The sun slips out of sight,

Repainting the sky a fading soft-hued blue.

Birds chirp their final songs

For the night.

Trees become silhouettes in the dimming light,

And one by one houses flip on lights

To replace the sun’s power to illumine the street.

As nature yawns,

And welcomes the ending of another day,

The sounds of man speeding nosily thither and yon

Mar the placidness of day’s end.

A coolness settles in with the sun

Now coursing toward farther meridians.

For tree and bush,

Bird and squirrel,

This ageless evolution evokes no concern.

They merely surrender calmly

To this age old rhythm of life.

They carry no cares to bed with them;

No questions about what the morrow will bring.

Nature lives out it circadian life

Knowing instinctively

Their maker has prepared for them

What they will need upon waking to a new day.

Fill my heart, Lord,

With this kind of peace that pervades each nightfall.

Sing, oh my spirit,

A final song of praise

To my creator and sustainer.

Tomorrow will have troubles of its own.

Leave them at His altar,

And rest now in the ending of another day

Lived with and for the Savior.

Welcome nightfall and be at rest.

For God neither slumbers nor sleeps.