In The Middle Of The Night

A long time after bedtime When it's very late When even dogs dream And there's deep sleep Breathing through the house When the doors are locked And the curtains drawn And the shops are dark And the last train's gone And there's no more traffic in the street Because everyone's asleep Then.... The window cleaner comes To the main shop fronts And polishes the glass In the street-lit dark And a big truck rumbles past On it's way to the dump Loaded with the last Of the day's trash On the twentieth floor Of the office tower There's a lighted window And high up there Another night cleaner's Vacuuming the floor Working nights on her own While her children sleep at home And down in the dome of the observatory The astronomer who's waited all day for the dark Is watching the good black sky at last For stars and moons And spikes of light Through her telescope In the middle of the night While everybody sleeps At the bakery The bakers in their floury clothes Mix dough in machines For tomorrow's loaves of bread And out by the gate Rows of parked vans sit For their drivers to come And take newly baked Bread to the shops For the time when the Bread eaters wake Across the town at the hospital Where the nurses watch in the dim-lit wards Someone very old shuts their eyes And dies Breathes their very last breath On their very last night Yet not very far away on another floor After months of waiting A new baby's born And the mother and father Hold the baby and smile And the baby looks up And the world's just begun But still, everybody sleeps Now through the silent station Past the empty shops And the office towers Past the sleeping streets And the hospital A train with no windows Goes rattling by And inside the train the sorters sift Urgent letters and packets on the late night shift So tomorrow's mail will arrive in time At the towns and villages down the line And the mother With the wakeful child in her arms Walking up and down And up and down And up and down The room Hears the train as it passes by And the cats in the yard And the night owl's flight And hums hushabye hushabye We should sleep now You and I It's late and time to close your eyes It's the middle of the night.

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Written by

sophia-atlas

17 / Gender Fluid / Up Your Ass

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