The moth approached me like a blinking eye,

I was having a cigarette in the garage.

The birds squeaked in the far off darkness,

a menacing sound disrupting the night.

 

I pressed the moth to give me her reasons

for staying up as late as she did--

She continued to blink, and I awaited her answer,

but nothing came.

 

The birds heckled the darkness and the darkness

heckled back--the chaos persisted but

remained subdued and the neighbors

stayed in bed.

 

The children, in their warm beds,

were dreaming of magical places,

and I bemoaned my condition

while having my cigarette in the garage.

 

I thought of summer, which was expected

to come, maybe tomorrow or never,

I figured I'd be sleeping when it did.

I thought of the hours I'd missed.

 

The moth returned after awhile,

she blinked her wings again and again,

She seemed to know I had a mild fever,

she seemed to know my memories too.

 

Let me go, I said.  Be off.  I want to sleep.

 

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