M I N D

Day’s over now and duty’s done

You’ve done your bit –

it’s time to wind right down

Just close off, blink out, snuff that tiny flame

and let me dive off into sweet oblivion.

But you and I are joined for now

and you won’t turn me loose.

You race

And pull me pell-mell here and there,

though I

would rather sink

into that depthless void

of mindless rest

so maddeningly not to be

with these dark shows that you parade

in endless streams before my eyes

closed tight, but locking you right in.

What can I do to make you

let me go

so I can sink or swim

into that velvet night

and just for once forget this mess,

this world that’s mine, for better or for worse?

(Just once to think that peace and goodwill too

might come to all.)