Night’s corners

In the night I wake.
Alone among shadows.
The words come easy
in the stillness
with no ears to hear.
Whispered and lost again,
restless as motes of dust
gathered then lost in darkened corners.

This night is all the nights I lay awake.
Wondering,
giving fear and doubt their voice.
Without border or boundary to contain them
they roam from the corners of the night.

The space between you and I,
an agony without bridge,
a gap of a thousand miles or a handspan,
still a chasm across which I dare not reach.
I watch words fall away,
tumble down like leaves to drift and spin,
landing at last in night’s corners.

Finally, when dawn is more than a promise,
I step out into mist and the grey cloaked morning,
still haunted,
standing alone.
Waiting
for your smile,
the sun’s kiss,
to sweep clean, finally, night’s corners.