lenten journal: nighthawks

sometime in the night I will be
robbed of an hour of sleep in
order that we might save daylight

the thieves will leave nothing but
the promise the hour will be saved
kept safely and returned in the fall

still -- what if this was the night
I was to sleep deep enough to wake
truly rested and somehow relieved

or I was to dream of a sheltering sky
over that single day at the seaside
with just you and me walking along . . .

or perhaps of a night when I walked
into the Hopper painting before daylight
and took my place behind the counter











Peace,
Milton