Sunday

Four AM

Across the river, over the village

Clouds have drawn a blanket

Silencing starlight

So quiet, pockets of white snow

tented under street lights, porch lights

(children flashlight reading undercovers)

Silent night

Even the occasional vehicle

Soundless fireflies

Disappearing into the black

The world, capable, every night

Of peace

around this great globe

Somewhere it is noon, evening

4 in the afternoon

Somewhere someone is going

Echoing or going beyond/beneath my knowledge

I recall those years

The clock roostering the 4 o’clock morn

Aroused readying for work

To break the night’s fast

For a town by the sea

Or the long drive

To study the thoughts of children

Other nights to caress with eyes

your lover’s prone figure

Asleep, comforted by

the warmth of that body near

that being that loves you

In another room, so quiet

The soft breath of your loved ones

Or the purr, or sniffle, the snore of a furry beast

And in the warm months, the exotic

Always exotic melody of birdsong

Or the howl or scream

Of night creatures

The erotic coyote

The victorious fox

The hoot of the owl

The snore of the neighbor

In the apartment next door

How precious is life at 4 am

Our blessings to count

When not cowered in fear

The shiver of a muted jet

The silence of a drone

true threat, or pious paranoia

The night knows that

As the world can slumber together

And go about the produce of the day

To plant, to grow

To bake and cook

To sip and laugh

At 4 am we are whole

United by the nation of sleep

4:32 am January 21, 2018