lying awake in the dark
    hoping to sleep

the sprinklers start
    their nightly rotation

spitting, hissing
    spraying the darkness

Night whispers

    stop trying to grasp
        what cannot be grasped

    stop trying to define
        what cannot be defined

    stop trying to contain
        what cannot be contained

but how? I ask
    and wait

Abby perches on the foot board
    her white fur dim and ghostly
stares out the window
    still, silent, wise

I want to know what she knows

Night continues

    you lie upon the beach
        still and warm in the autumn sun
    the tide creeps in, slowly but steadily lifts you,
        slips you toward the sea
    you relax,
        you sink just below the surface
    now you are the Sea
        now the Sea is you

    you sit at the edge of the forest
        smell the pines, the damp earth
    you exhale
        with each exhalation
    you feel lighter, lighter, lighter…
        until, weightless
    you merge with the air
        you rise and float
    moving, like a balloon,
        with the wishing of the wind
    you are the Air
        and the Air is you

silence cloaks the room

Night concludes

    breathe in
        breathe out
    sink
        rise

    you are the Night
        and the Night is you

I slide into sleep
    dissolve into God…

Text and image © 2023 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
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