The Woman in the Night

She came quietly
as though the night itself
had opened for her.

For a moment
it seemed she belonged to the stars.

Not because she shone
but because she moved
with their distant patience.

The mountains were still.
Frost held the high ridges.
Far below, the fields lay breathing
in the dark.

She stepped into the grass
barefoot,

as if the earth
had been waiting for her weight.

The wind touched her hair.
It lifted slightly,
like flame remembering its light.

She stood there a long time.

Looking upward.

Not to possess the sky
but to receive it.

And something changed.

The silence around her deepened.
The night drew closer.

It was as if the stars
had recognized her.

Then she laughed softly
and the moment broke.

She turned
and began to walk again,

moving through the dark
as someone who knows
that wonder does not belong to us

but passes through us
for a little while.