I smile when I can
about good news,
sunsets,
the faces babies make
in super markets,

laugh in the evening
with a girl
who laughs back
and smiles over
dinner while we watch television.

In the evening, we sleep
together under blankets,
touch skin,
hold each other
until we both go to work
in the morning.

I work,
pay bills,
earn simple man wages,
enjoy simple man pleasures.
I drink bottle beer and
smoke workingman cigarettes.

Sometimes late at night,
I watch my alarm clock
and feel time is running out.

Other times, I regard the moon tattoo
inked in galaxies of freckles on her shoulder
and listen to her weak snores
while distant sirens moan
like banshees yawning
midnight sorrows
on blank streets.