the night watchman is ever present
always lurking around
right over there where you can't see him,
feel his breath on your shoulder
on the back of your neck
as you turn again in your lonely
ice cold bed ...

waiting to see what you'll do
reach for that phone?
reach for that crutch?
or just go ahead
and take matters in your own hands
quietly he wonders, too...

it's been years since you've heard
yet you keep holding on
choosing to believe and not doubt,
hearing those words
again in your head,

'Don't worry, my darling
I'll be home soon'

watching the world turn
you feel out of place
on the outside of everything
while looking within

keeping warm with those memories of love?

when he was still here
so close in your arms
time had no meaning
no need for clocks then,
all that mattered
and all that you cared for
was the notion of
and only for,
'Us' ...

but now
the only sounds are those
tap tapping of minutes
one by one,
second hand slowly sweeps through and runs off
as they grow into hours
then disappear,
days into months
and now the harvest of years ...

and that night watchman
your constant companion,
tho' he never speaks
you know he's right there,
a silent reminder
of all that is not ...

run to that window and what do you see?
distant echoes from another time glide past
as if to taunt,
strapped to dark clouds once friendly
now fierce and foreboding,
drumbeats of thunder soon make their way
to flash,
rain on the window
tears in the drain,
yet you hold on
certain he's coming,
again ...

'he said so!'
hope tells me
'and he wouldn't lie!'
'I know he'll be here, as sure as I'm alive'

I turn away slowly,
my job almost done
soon I'll be gone, too
as soon as I smother this last vestige that lingers
another one of those dastardly fools!
ha!
despair reigns supreme without hope
we're certain to overcome and control
this dark side of living,
this dark side of life,
this nonexistent place
we call home ...

10/18/2006

Posted on 12/16/2006
Copyright © 2026 Alisa Js