Deep Night Thing

 

Awake tonight at three am

I heard the city-sound of sleeping

Traffic muted distantly

While nothing closer moves at all

 

Hear the atoms clash together

Song of silence singing loud

With soundless, energetic voice

Surge and ebb in constant flow

 

I with wonder, sleepless waiting

Sense footsteps lightly treading

Feel a presence not my own –

A moment quickly past and gone

 

Ears attenuate, hear hush arising

Once again all stillness reigns

Sleeping power quiescent lies

Waits to wake at morning hour

 

I now, after intervening sleep, awake

Prosaic day-sound patterns hear

Yet pause a moment, musing

What might have been that deep night thing?