Just before dawn,
I shut my book midway.
Refuse the news from yesterday’s paper.
The computer tablet is as black as the TV.
Hours ago, I pulled all the cords
That can color the world
And push it’s face up close,
So up into mine.
I see my head haunting the dead box
Of the smart phone held in my hand.
Pulling its earbuds,
The music went tinny and tiny.
Finally, I just shut it off.
I am not on tap for a chat
With you, or anyone under the sun.
What to do?
If only I could sleep unafraid
Of the dreams that we dare not remember.
Awakening to peace, I could piece back
Together my memory of Brave:
Barely a kid, I stood at an edge of the city
Watching the pastures and silo disintegrate
As dusk filtered down, then around.
I waved to the bats in a whorl overhead.
If I cannot sleep?
If I cannot find peace?
.
Steven Golden
October 1st, 2016
Revised October 2nd, October 10, 2016
stevengoldenpoetry 