Red Light

Andrew Cutter

O red light, from whence do you come?

A far flung flare? So distant a sun?

The focal point of this pink sky

Blurred by, haunted by, Warmed by

The snow falling cloudily by

Red light, red light, I’ve seen you before

Surely ‘twas off some golden shore

A ship, I decided it to be

Now a question begged by what I see

“Were you so typical a ship at sea?”

Red, red light, I swear I see you move

A flared tail is offering to prove

But soon it’s seen soon it’s gone

And presently you live on

Where I first saw you once upon

Red light, you are by nature framed

Dark trees. by dark night so named

Send their sickly branches to wrap you

To strangle, to kill, to build some new

Serenity to your soft red hue

Fair red light, you’re the fault of a child

Beaten by brothers formerly mild

Now incensed, mercy, and ripped, tangled

Their perceptions are madly dangled

And in all senses of the word mangled

I can make no sense of you, red light

Except, simply, that you shine quite bright

A warm glow for a cold winter night

A little sign to make the soul light

You’re a blessing to my inward sight

My perfectly little red light