Night Souls

Author:: Kathy Burton

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.

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.