Darkest before dawn.

“Do you know why it’s so dark outside?”
Whispers the groaning halls
Stuttering with my steps
Stumbling with my words
I reply back
“Because it’s still nighttime.”

The whisper of the dark halls
Carries me to the window sill
Where on the horizon
Illuminated colours
Of yellow and orange
Begin to paint the edge of the land

“It’s always darkest before the sun rises,”
Whispers the groaning halls.
Struck by this revelation
I fight the tears that I’ve been holding back
For darkness precedes the dawn
And, without it, the sunrise would be
Anything but extraordinary.