Quietest before the Dawn

It's darkest before the dawn

we’ve heard
and know
but don’t
or forget
 
Do we hear?
Do we know?
It’s also quietest before the dawn
 
You no longer hear the crickets
or the owls
or the bats
nor yet the birds
 
The only creatures you might hear
but might not
because they are moving
careful, cautious, silent
are the fishermen
 
You see not
You hear not
You feel
your heart pounding
your spine tingling
 
The fishermen too?
Do they feel
their hearts pounding?
their spines tingling?
 
My uncle was a sailor
sometimes a fisherman
a reluctant one
resisting the early rise
Sometimes, though,
he dredged himself up
from the warmth of his bed,
because, he said,
there’s nothing like a sunrise
 
The fishermen know
They remember
Just before the sunrise
comes the stillness before the dawn,
a chilling
fearful
yet magical
moment
when all of Creation is
Quietest before the Dawn