Empty Poem by Richard D Remler

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I never sleep -
Not restful sleep.
I turn and toss and pace the floor
Like a dead man
Walking -

Outside the summer fog
Drifts through trees that haven't yet
Shed all their summer tears,
And the moon hangs with happy stars
In all her crescent beauty.

The TV buzzes low,
In secret shadows,
Black and white images
Of dead movie stars
Speaking words that drone
Into the warm hissing static
Three a.m. brings.
And my thoughts drift here and there
With a haunt and stinging monotony.

I breathe deep the still air
And listen to the echoes of night.
And I taste the nauseating bilge of regret
That ebbs in through
Those dark alleyways
And lost graveyards
Of my mind.

How dull life would be
Without the shades and shadows,
And starlight emptiness
That keep us company
When time absently draws
Her signature in silent
Lines under our eyes.


Copyright © MMXIV Richard D. Remler