The Chirping of Crickets

"… Unbroken silence dressed their sounds in divine garments. They pierced flesh and soul, so that it was impossible not to rise and follow them with your eyes as they vanished into the distance, into the darkness. This was also the time when everyone gathered around the hearth. Houses glowed or darkened, depending on the fate each had. But the chimneys all rumbled, and that piece of sky was covered with a smoky layer of moss, as if to cover and hide everything.

Just beneath the smoke, at the hour of the fire's heat, Athena went out into the empty streets. …"