"At Three O'Clock in the Morning" edit

"At Three O'Clock in the Morning"
editted 4 Feb 2012 

"At Three O'Clock in the Morning"

"At Three O'Clock in the Morning"




She lay awake in her bed because she couldn't sleep. It was one of those restless nights that are filled with the inescapable dread that another minute has to creep by before you can sleep. And another. And another. And another. And another. And another.


But the moment of sweet ecstasy, as you slip soundlessly into the silos and slaughterhouses of slumber, NEVER comes. 

English goes NOM

English goes NOM

A human death is tragedy
But in a book - a novelty.
With names of men just mere creations
That rule a farm or grow the nations

Or travel to islands near & afar
In spaceships, through tunnels, or rides in a car;
Snaking and sliding further & further in - -
With victory, with sadness, with triumph, with sin.

I can see it all from the comfort of my chair-
With a lamp, with a light, with a drink, with a pear.
Consume me, O Book that can bring me to living
The lives I haven't been given.

Take me to the worlds unseen
By my little self, so simple, green.
You give companions I wish to hold
Through love upwelling & secrets (un)told

I see the truth, yet question the points
That be in my life & heaven anoints.
I live through the words that dance there before me
Where language consumes: the land of possibility.

Elizabeth Gay
1005am
9.3.10

*express the loss of control under the influence of poetic/literary words