Exhaustion drip the night away,
bleeding the clock of every second.
Drifting on a raft of dimlit dreams,
down a river of wayward thoughts.
Stopping and starting.
A blurry room fades
to backlit black.

Float,
sink down with every breath

A broken haze drifts down
form a gray and weary sky.

Who has cast this blanket?
It is dampening our light.

Lift this dull affair.
Bring the sun back to our lives

End this tiresome evening
of speckled windows and soft sighs

It is quiet in the halls.
All the merriment has died.
Paper lines the floors,
all the elves have gone to hide.

Tonight we will sleep in,
for there is no more surprise.
No cookies are left out,
just happy smiles on Christmas night

A taxi drove past
at two in the morning,
blurring through the street lamp halo
painted on the sidewalk.

A click.
Flash frozen,
stuck speeding stationary,
clipping the spotlight.
And the night hanging off the lamp pole
does not appreciate
being caged away

The bed is empty again.
Warmth settles in the void
now reclaimed
by neatly tucked sheet corners
and a fading memory in the mattress.
A wayward dream of soft snores
begging to come true

One pillow
recovering from a restless night,
the other
frozen like marble.
Too foreign to be disturbed.
Too real to be dismissed.
Too distant to be admired

Reap the fields of dying holly
and sow the fields with red berries.

Dream of sunny spring awakening,
before the dew sets in the morning.

Raise the flag!
The lucky lost
fighting waves of inky stars.

Sleepless soldiers
on silent streets,
waging war on the wild and wistful.

Fall in line,
learn our song!
These ragged ranks have room for all.

So long as dreams ne'er come
and nightmares run,
we will whisper our violent lullabies.