A Summer Night In Mississippi Poem by Angela L. Burke

A summer night in Mississippi
Spent in Coldwater Bottoms
Down gravel roads and cotton rows
And places long forgotten

The fragrance of magnolia blossoms
Drifts sweetly through the air
Willow trees dance eerily
As hoot owls stop and stare

Soft breezes through the cypress trees
Bring whispers on their wings
As fireflies twinkle like the stars
And crickets start to sing

Cross river beds and copperheads
The fog begins to creep
Into the lonely graveyard
They call, Coldwater Creek

Old cast iron gates creak as they sway
Into a field of crumbling stones
Whose carvings have all weathered
Left now to be unknown

The ground is soft and hollow
Step lightly or you'll fall
Into a pit of dust and bones
And creepy things that crawl

The stillness of the night air
Is ripped into a shred
As the bobcat makes his presence known
With a scream to wake the dead

Underneath the midnight moon
Shadows dance to unheard tunes
Chills run frantic down your spine
As darkness settles with the dew

A heaviness lies on you
You can barely catch your breath
As the leaves around you flutter
And wrap you up in death

A summer night in Mississippi
Spent in Coldwater Bottoms
Down gravel roads and cotton rows
And places long forgotten.