Night Café


The neighbors' light burned til dawn. Poor Dixie, you said,
awake all night again. Pity for those of us
with syncopated circadian rhythms, pity
whether we want it or not

Do you know I sometimes wave to her? Our windows
the only ones lit so late. She follows radioactive I Love Lucy
and I stare down your bottle of VSOP.

How I long for tarnished winter afternoons spent watching
a lemon sun take on blue like drowning. Each time
it gives way to the inking dark, I remember you.

This darkening down, so close, so close, keeps me rooted,
stock- still but breathing. It shows me there’s no way out
and that’s how I learned to love you.

Copyright © 2003 Cheryl Snell