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The poems

© 2010-2013

lights out

I sit in the car
In the driveway
And watch you turn out the lights
One by one
And think about
How all the lights go out
Eventually
One by one
With amazing and consistent
Predictability
First the thoughtfulness
And attention to detail
Then the decency of kind words
Then caring more for other than self
Then touching
Then making love, versus having sex
Then -- the most difficult
Stumbling over “I love you”
Having to think before saying it
Because you aren’t sure it’s true anymore
Then the numbness sets in
The desperate quiet of the dark
In which all the lights are out
And you don’t know how to keep going
Without the lights
So you stall, waiting for one to come on again

I sit and write in the dark in the car
The hand and pen move across the page
I can’t see what I write
But even without the lights
The heart sees
Even in the dark