in the quiet

lights out, time for sleep, sitting here
in the dark
in the quiet

the only sound the baseball game
still playing in the bedroom as my husband sleeps
there is always a game on somewhere in the house
i don’t mind, it has become the background music of my life

sometimes i turn baseball on when i am here alone
just because it feels normal, soothing

it is late, very late, i should be asleep

but i sit here
fingers itching to write
not sure what they want to say, these fingers

but i let them talk anyway

i wish i could sit here in the dark, in the night, in the quiet

not so tired, and listen to the night
or that game or just the sound of my own breath

i wish it was that night, but instead it is a night
when i am too exhausted to go to bed

another time i will sit here

in the dark
in the quiet
in the night

i will listen


10 Responses to “in the quiet”

  • Jillsy Says:

    I have those nights but normally I just lie in bed while tidbits of thoughts float around the room unable to grasp on to any one in particular.

  • beth Says:

    too exhausted to sleep….something only a woman understands, me thinks.

    i have that background “music” too….right now it’s tennis….sometimes it’s golf and soon, football…..but it does soothe, so that’s okay.

  • Debi Says:

    it is a gift, those nights when we are not tired to just with the dark, and they come too rarely, so seldom. they are like easter eggs, you just happen upon them – if you look for them, they will stay hidden. and so we sit. you sit. and we search for the words to say we are tired, or the words to deny that exhaustion, pretend, pretend, pretend, we tell ourselves. at least i do. it doesn’t work, and it doesn’t matter. the dark cares not whether you are tired or fully awake – it sits with you anyway, glad for the company. it needs no words. xoxo

  • kath Says:

    too tired, wired tired, I understand …

  • Michael Rusk Says:

    The image is haunting … “in the dark in the quiet in the night i will listen”. I can barely make out your silhouette from the faint light filtering through the blinds. Are you smiling or crying? I can’t tell … you are quiet also …

    Your fingers did a great job!

    @DeciduousTree

  • Kate Says:

    Poetic is what you are.

  • joanna jenkins Says:

    Been there, done that. Hope you get some rest.
    jj

  • whollyjeanne Says:

    you, too, my thel? i’ve had a string of late nights of late. i’ll be listening for you . . .

  • Liz Says:

    I am missing you tonight so I came to visit your beautiful site. A breath of fresh air. Thank you, I love you.

  • ZX1400 owner Says:

    I wish I could write like you, as Margaret Laurence once said, “When I say “work” I only mean writing. Everything else is just odd jobs.”

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