Solitaire Poem by Margaret Kollmer

Shadows fall and lengthen -
drooping sentinels
of long-forgottenhours.
And one by one
lights go on
in the little boxes all around.
And I'm contentto paddle in the shallow-end
of embryonic warmth
until again
the little boxes black out
and merge into the dark peripheral sky.
And I'm stirred into rebellion
at this infringement
of my liberty....
Forced to acknowledge the dark
and climb into my feather-bed shroud
and admit
to my aloneness.