Day and Night

As night’s darkness falls back
Like a wave returning to the sea
The daylight begins to grow,
Slowly creeping over the world.
Daytime starts: people awake, stretching
In their beds and wriggling their toes.
Children leap into their clothes
And rapidly scoff their toast
Ready for school. Adults stride strongly
Onto trains and head into the city.
The sunlight glints off towers and shimmers from rooftops,
Birds erupt with song and paint perfect pictures in the sky.
Everything is bright, everything is alive,
Daytime blazes like fire!

When the day fades
To evening and the sky turns misty grey
Tired people trudge home from work
And school, with heavy loads and heavy legs.
Light switches are flicked and clicked and electricity
Zooms through walls to illuminate the world,
Before adults and children snuggle
And sink into their sleep, their deep and dream filled slumber.
Now foxes, bats and playful mice
Steal their turn to explore,
Sneaking out from their hiding holes
And daytime dens and nests,
To keep their ancient night time vigil
while the human world’s at rest.

guided reading questions for Day and Night