The Inevitability of Light

THE INEVITABILITY OF LIGHT
 
To keep the night
from curling up at dawn
they built a nail
the size of a mountain,
an entire gross of nails
and a hammer like a moon.
 
They drove those nails
along the horizon,
deep into the earth's crust,
deeper still in the mantle.
 
The night stretched,
stars jumped and blurred.
They heard invisible pinions
wrenched from their sockets
and a tremendous tearing
as slashes of cerulean
sheared the darkness
and shadowy ribbons
trailed across the land.
 
And since that day,
the beast of night
has had a ragged tail.