While Our Eyes Are Closed Poem by Robert Rorabeck

My son is here beside me-
My half-blood son,
Naked-
The stone is sleeping,
And soon my son will sleep.
Outside,
All of Shanghai is naked
And making excuses for
The way the world is turning-
The planes are sunken,
And my father in law is having
An opperation tomorrow-
My birthday-
For now, all of the lights
Are turned out
And the quiet intrudes-
All of the daylight's fondlings
Through the daytime's interludes-
And I think about my blue collar
Job on the otherside of
The world,
Something I cannot be excused from,
And the poem I just lost-
As the night opens its romance
For strangers down upon the street-
My son goes to sleep in a room
Beside mine-
The lights go out,
As our hearts, close together, like
The circus, move to another town
While our eyes are closed.