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All That's Left is the Night by Ronald E. Shields

Summer with Monsters by J. M. W, Turner

(After Mark Strand)

They are gone,
your lovers too.
For now the house is quiet.
Your mind will turn to sleep.
Your dreams will take you

back to the beginning.

It was something you said.
It was something you did.

No matter –

Your heart is a house with paper walls,
they will collapse if you move too fast.


So you learn the ancient art of breathing

and how to feel for your Qi in the veins of your neck.




What if you can recreate the beginning?
If they all return tomorrow will you burst into bloom?
Perhaps everything will turn out right.


Or you may wake from your dream to find

the sun has yet to bring an end to the night.

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