It Was a Dark and Stormy Night...
Shall I sleep while the skies do dance?
In their pagan abandon, thunder laughter rattling the house
And my cat's nerves.
Dancing in and out with lightning lanterns,
Their footprints found all in my room's shadows,
The eyes of my own death looking out on me.
Shall I sleep while you do dance?
And traipse out your gaiety
In a Morse Code on my windowpane?
I, sheets and blankets of glass and linen under,
Lie open, quiet-eyed on a night
That would otherwise carry me to my death.
Only a vigil leaks in my mind, sound and light
Through the chinks in my consciousness.
Dreams and displaced reality
Tease me from my nest in the pillows
Only the cat-- whiskery even breathing sigh-- reminds me
I am here, and the storm outside.
To her even puff and and muff the storm slides
Out of my eyes-- heavier, heavier
Until, winds of whole ideas away from me,
I sleep, finally, soundly. -End