As Night Approaches
Shadows of late afternoon,
closed sign in a shop window.
dusk drives out the light,
tamps the business,
sends the people home.
I look at my silhouette
as I hang out here,
stretched interminably,
longer than I’ll ever be.
My flesh is so perilously close
to being just a tenth of what I am,
as I read the sorry tale
of Bessie’s luncheonette…
it’s much too late to feed you,
even to call you by your name,
speak to you.
There’s just me in her window,
half reflection, half closed-sign.
And my shadow’s off
to link with other shadows,
until their shapes have nothing to do
with me, with signs, with restaurants.
Soon, I’ll be alone in the dark,
sitting on some broken steps,
as hungry as tomorrow must be,
a closed sign in a window,
open for business.
~ John Grey
John Grey is an Australian born poet and US resident since late seventies. He works as financial systems analyst. His work has recently been published in Slant, Briar Cliff Review and Albatross, and is upcoming in Poetry East, Cape Rock and REAL.
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