Night Souls
Over 30 years in human services working for and with people with developmental disabilities.
Tonight on my leather couch alone
I watch the lights of the city
Push at the blackness
And I wonder about a night long ago,
Our first encounter, the spark of recognition
That pierced the veil of sight.
I remember how you entered the room,
Settled into the lumpy couch.
I watched from the overstuffed chair.
You smiled, offered a beginning question,
And the Id danced with joy and the recognition
Of the ancient. The night slipped away like time.
Tonight, a new deck of cards lay on my chrome and glass table,
Tightly wrapped in cellophane like my well-intentioned life,
Routines preserved into infinity, a time capsule
Of lesson unlearned.
I ponder the number of lives
It takes to find the path of joy. Instead I reach
For the telephone where a connection awaits me
And like the mirage of my life
The night slips away.
© 2018 Kathy Burton
Comments
Kathy Burton (author) from Florida on February 08, 2018:
Thank you.
Robin Carretti from Hightstown on February 08, 2018:
I am glad to hear this better place your got too
Kathy Burton (author) from Florida on February 08, 2018:
T hank you. I don't know where those words came from in my psyche at the time but it certainly described the "well-intentioned" life I was living at the time--I was following my script pretty closely and it nearly choked the life out of me. I am in a much better place now. Thanks for the feedback.
Robin Carretti from Hightstown on February 08, 2018:
Wow I love this my new deck of card lay on my chrome table and then wrapped in cellophane like my well-intentioned life those words stood out the most thanks, interesting read
Kathy Burton (author) from Florida on February 07, 2018:
Bill,
Thanks for taking time to read this poem too and giving encouraging feedback. Love the Beatles still. As to "Nowhere Man" I still think the line "You don't know what you are missing"still applies to me. There is so much I don't know, thus, am missing. So much to learn and so little time...:-)
Thanks for reading.
Kathy
Bill Holland from Olympia, WA on February 07, 2018:
There are some stunning images in this poetry. Very well done! One of my favorite songs was "Nowhere Man" by the Beatles. When I was in my twenties I thought they had written that song for me.