Minnesota Night and Memories

On a cold night, 

before the first snow 

but after the leaves

have turned 

and breath leaves

the lips like 

clouded ashes, 

my thoughts crawl 

along crescent moons 

and chain my wish 

to a dying star.  

... i am naive...

I send it away, 

flying up like a prayer 

out of my fingertips 

as I search the skies 

for answers to every 

question I've ever asked 

but find only silence 

in the calls that 

echo back 

and 

I don't know how I got here...

stuck in this place between worlds, 

full of beauty and danger and words

that I can't quite seem to understand.

They are fragmented, 

fractured and floating 

just out of reach 

of hands grasping 

at empty air. Beware. 

If I reach to far, 

I may fall. 

I don't want to fall. 

There's something scary 

about the darkness, 

about the smiling grin 

of night as it 

swallows up the sun.  

i hide under streetlamps, 

ask for protection 

as i try to wrap myself 

in the orange glow.

i try to take it with me, 

to fight off the 

shadows with 

a fistful of light 

but each time i close my 

hands to grab it, 

it disappears. 

... i am confused... 

There's something mysterious 

about the darkness, 

about how it can mask 

both God and the devil 

as they roam the streets 

and alleyways. 

i dance in the space just beyond 

the light, toes flirting with 

the halo of serenity 

and the waiting jaws 

of chaos. i am free but not free, 

burdened by my fears 

but too old to be afraid 

of the dark, 

so the grin on my face 

as i spin around 

is more false bravado 

than i care to admit. 

... i am lost... 

There's something bold

about the darkness, 

about how it reaches 

out and dares the pain

to pierce it. 

i wish i knew what it felt like, 

to be able to run without 

looking where i'm going 

and not giving a damn 

if i have to squeeze into 

the corners to embrace 

unknown. at least, i 

wish i could recognize 

that the chill down my 

spine was never from 

the cold and that 

maybe, with time, 

i could find my place 

between dying stars,

capture wishes with 

the magic known as night 

as i hang from the moon. 

... i am home.