Night rode in

Night rode in 
on the wings of winter 
a stirring in the lofty heights 

When the great north wind 
mighty warrior of the skies 
Summoned the cold from the arctic empire 
where the hours of day are short 
And the midnight hour persistent 

For to scour the realm
when darkness feeds on shadows and mist 
and the sun grows dim and dimmer still
Vanishing behind an endless wintertide 
defined by colours of sorrow and woe

As a cloak of pitch black shrouds the nights 
and clouds of steel grey dominate the days 
Casting a pall upon the hearts of the living 
scattering their fleeting joys 
upon the stormy seas of a stern midwinter 

As dour days of lament 
absorb the hopes and dreams of the land
And a chill fist hard as iron 
grips the world in its brute clench 
While bleak heavens of granite hue 
brood over the kingdom for a time and a tide
~ d.a.simpson ~

Image: Prettysleepy on Pixabay 

The soft violet

The soft violet 
of a sublime dusk 
whispered lavender notes 
amid the silent breeze 
wafting through the deserted expanse 

It danced upon the limpid lake 
whose lilac waters 
displayed shadows of evenfall 
staining the enigmatic depths 
awash with mysteries 
hailing from beyond the boundaries of this dominion 

While a row of trees
bare of leaf and devoid of substance 
lined the bank
etching matchstick silhouettes
insubstantial boughs and branches 
upon the surface of a benthic abyss 

Smooth as glass
silent as the celestial chambers 
from whence emanated this very nightfall
a’creeping o’er the deserted scape 
one serene eventide 
~ d.a.simpson ~


Image: 12019 on Pixabay 

The empty sky

The empty sky 
assumed a character of slate blue 
As the hour of evening 
melted into the infinite mysteries 
of an impenetrable nightfall 

And an endless obscurity 
laid claim 
to the heavenly places 
Shrouded now in a velvet darkness 
of inky black 
Which rested upon the placid realm awhile

As a myriad stars 
brought forth from the empty 
a gentle light 
Left behind by the golden orb
of a forgotten yesterday 
Departed now unto another dominion 

For to shine an array of lanterns
aglow with a serene lambency 
In a midnight firmament 
pervading the impassive scape
~ d.a.simpson ~


Image: jplenio on Pixabay 

Lofty mountains

Lofty mountains 
in granite grey 
overlook an unkempt wilderness 
clothed in neglect 
Strewn with giant boulders a many 
sprawled across the rugged moorland 
As ruins of a long forgotten city 
of a discarded yesteryear 

Bearing myriad scars 
memories untold
Etched in mourning and sorrow 
in the desolation of a barren scape 
devoid of life 
bland and inert 

Save for the relentless wind
a whisper of phantoms
intoning lachrymose murmurs 
songs of lament

Rising amid the mists of a nascent dawn
beneath monochrome skies of pale hue  
Awaiting a ghostly sun 
a timid disc of insipid regard 
this sombre morn most bleak
upon a dismal wintertide scene 
~ d.a.simpson ~


Image: Stephen Winter (longships) on Unsplash 

A cohort of clouds

A cohort of clouds 
swept across the rolling hills 
Casting shadows 
that sent a chill through the conifers 

And they shuddered in the cool of a winter’s day 
Overcome by the cold breath 
a’blowing o’er a serene lake

Set amid the cleft of two ancient monoliths
twin escarpments hewn in granite
Rising to’ard the heavens
piercing the endless gray 
Dismissing the insubstantial gauze
discarded by rainclouds a’fleeting

While an insipid light 
by an ineffectual sun emitted
Seeped across the heavens
to spill its rays across a barren moor
In an opaque pallor 
with timorous yellow tinged

When a miasma of mists rose from the ground
seething like disembodied spectres
emanating from another dominion 
Casting a pall upon the dawning of daybreak 
~ d.a.simpson ~


IMAGE: Julius_Silver 

Into the valley of shadows

As the day descended into the valley of shadows
and darkness crept through the impassive emptiness 
A silence 
hovering beyond the horizon 
drew near 

It swept through the trees
insubstantial 
like a half remembered dream
in a haze of feeble recollections 

Amid the moonlit meadows 
bathed in an ivory light

Edged by willow trees 
parched by the harsh winds 
decreed by a merciless winter
Which dipped their thirsty boughs
into the cool waters 
A’sparkle in a pristine river
meandering through the deserted realm

Bathed in the benign the glow
cast by an orb of night 
in full bloom
Hanging aloft in the heavenly scape 
exalting in the hush 
exuded by the sacred sanctuaries 
that ever pervade the empyrean enigma 

~ d.a.simpson ~


Image: rujhan_basir on Pixabay 

A soft hiss

A soft hiss 
the sound of skies a’weeping 
emanated from a firmament 
shrouded in a forlorn grey 
the colour of sorrow 
reconciled to grief 
When a mournful rain soaked the realm entire 

It watered the misty glades 
and showered a majesty of hills 
cloaked in a velvet of lush green

While raindrops a many
spattered an infinity of granite rocks 
strewn across a riverbed 
Whose crystal waters meandered 
through the verdant meadows
gracing the benign idyll
sprawling beneath a tranquil empyrean

While a distant gale of foreboding 
rumbled from beyond the escarpment 
Echoing a chorus 
intoned by a pack of desert wolves 
from a remote glacial empty
Home to the great north wind
far from this unsuspecting utopia bountiful
Of dewy grasslands and lush pastures

~ d.a.simpson ~


Image: from Pixabay on Pexels 

A ruthless wind

A ruthless wind stirred the frigid seas 
a’ rumble amid the turbulent deep 

It caused them to race for the deserted beach 
where a ripple of waves washed the sands 
Ice cold and diamond hard now 
in the raw cold of early morn 

As the troubled waters a froth of turmoil 
Scoured in vain the heartless shore 
for succour and solace 

Pounding the length of the coastline 
in search of refuge from the brooding darkness 
Abounding in the skies at the edge of the scape 

Where the horizon etched a line black as ink
beneath an uproar of skies in granite grey 
Compounding the despond of the hour

~ d.a.simpson ~


Image: 12019 on Pixabay 

Scattered

Scattered beneath the cover of darkness 
when the world is a slumbering 
Are the ripening seeds of an incipient cold 
characterising the age 
of an austere wintertide 

Sprouting amid kingdoms of night 
in the tenebrous realms 
To the north of an infinite scape 

Where the great winds convene 
their dreams for to realise

In a world of ice mountains 
cold and dazzling white 
Hard as the piercing rays 
searing the hour
of a winter’s sunrise

While the vernal skies
weep myriad flakes of snow 
in a shower of lachrymose lament 
That dapple the spectral breath
of an early morning mist
As it turns to a crisp gauze
brittle as a hibernal morn 
and blankets the dormant land 
In the frosted shroud of a silent desolation 
~ d.a.simpson ~


Image: AlainAudet on Pixabay 

Daylight begins to fade

Daylight begins to fade 
and the dilapidated remains 
of a desolate dusk 
Begin to perish 
in the silence of a crepuscular sky 

Denigrated by the ashes of an earliertide swept away with a discarded yesterday 
And consumed by the great fires 
a’raging in the solar chambers 

As the great golden orb 
succumbed to the cool mists
a’swirl over the tenebrous waters 
Dark as a starless night 
a’lapping at the hem of the infinite cosmos
draped in an unfathomable indigo

Whose silent depths
evoked a benign eternity
exceeding the travails and sorrows  
pervading the fleeting shadows and whims
That encroach upon this mortal scape awhile 

~ d.a.simpson ~


Image: PublicDomainPictures on Pixabay