The Presence Of The Night Poem by RIC BASTASA

ladies,
i did not invent these nights
my eyes are not their switches
i cannot turn it off and on
even if i close and open
these weary eyelids.

ladies
on nights like these
when twilight cut us short
of the weird things that we
tickle upon our bodies
i never drove those nights away

these nights have their own lives
they carry their own capes of darkness
their own pleasurable surprises
they know how to kill and save
they know how to give us
either ecstasy or pain
but they never force themselves upon us
we are simply made to choose
we must therefore think wisely

and so ladies,
why do you curse the darkness?
why do you blame the night?
why do you cry unnecessarily?
what a waste of moments

ladies,
come with us,
we are your merry gentlemen.
the nights have been made for all of us
and nobody must take them all away from us
nobody because now
we have the right to own them.