My grandmother told me once she knew a man,
With an ego, as tall as the oak tree in the back yard,
With teeth that shine brighter than the lord’s teeth,
And hands colder than mine,
His voice was never loud,
Instead, he spoke in soft whispers,
And warmth escaped his lips like smoke.
She said he brought her daylight in the midst of despair,
She’d hide in the shed and wait for him every night,
So she’d be able to hold a little light in her heart until the morning finally comes back again,
And then when the sun shines, she would forget about him until darkness appears again.
He never liked that, she said,
He was always angry about being the midnight man,
How she let the morning flirt with her,
Hold her hands and taste her warm flesh,
How she only liked him because he reminded her of her other lover,
My grandmother said that she never wanted to anger him,
For she needed the comfort of the light in the night,
She needed to escape the gloominess, and remember that there is always tomorrow,
But the midnight man was never her lover,
He was the reminder that tomorrow was only a blink away,
That another day is just around the corner,
She needed the little candles that he brought her,
But never liked that she needed him.
Today, i met the midnight man,
He held my hand and told me he knew exactly what i needed,
A little escape from the chaos inside my nights,
A little inspiration to write poems again,
Perhaps write about love again,
Yet i was never able to remember my grandmothers fairytales,
And i let him light a spark for me,
A little dim candle was all i needed to forget the world around me,
In that moment, I knew how much I needed the midnight man,
And every night, I snuck up to the shed, and I waited.
And just as the morning came,
It was like he was never there,
When the light came,
I just forgot how lonely darkness could get.
And so I took him for granted,
Until the day he just wasn’t there anymore.
