Within the Sheltered Gloom

Within the Sheltered Gloom

Darkness near the edge of dawn,
Stumbling `cross the dew-damp lawn
I cannot sleep, I only yawn
I think I’m going to have to pawn
My sadness.

7-Eleven coffee’s hot
The place next door’s an empty lot
The streets are wet… I am not
I worry that I cannot shed
My madness.

Superficial liars shout
While homeless children cry and pout
The drunks are high, their voices dry
They cannot really tell what is
They’re seeing.

Alone beneath the silent moon
I stand within the sheltered gloom
Waiting for the crosstown bus
To take away my worried lust
For bleeding.

It does not matter where I dwell
Someplace between a Heaven and Hell
A dirty crooked street that’s dark
And filled with lonely mongrel barks
I’m feeding.

A misty upstairs bathroom light
Steals the darkness from the night
A widow’s face stares down at me
I turn but I cannot undo
Her appearing.

Upon her wooden steps I climb
And hear the singing of the chimes
The darkened door scrapes slowly in
A narrow hand of pale white skin
Removes the latch and bids me slowly enter.
Her eyes reveal the tears she shed
She cannot hide the pain she bled
I know that it is only I
Who takes away her need to cry
So sadly.

Upstairs she leads me to her bed
And soothes her breasts upon my head
I cannot see or feel the strain
That lapses deep within my brain
I only feel our hunger.

The dawn appears upon the sheet
I bend and stretch on cold bare feet
Leaning toward the newborn day
I can no longer find my way
To laughter.

Her loneliness encloses me
I touch her soul and yet I see
She cannot open up to me
She only sees what is within
Her sorrow.

The sadness matted at her door
The pain that spread upon her floor
Is all I have to offer her
And all I can bestow upon
Tomorrow.