Lights flicker on the hillside like fireflies
or a star-filled deep purple sky
I lay and gaze, eyes out of focus
Until they succumb to sleep--
the air pulsing from crickets and the
static electricity of the streetlight
Barely outlined I see
the soft shadows of villa to tree
mountain to grainy sky
The silence broken by a car alarm
and conversation too distant to make out
warm sticky air rolls through the
cracked windows, bringing with it
the dampness that follows rain
I want to lay awake forever
But unconsciousness hits like a wave,
crashing-- taking the dream away