2 am

Silence -

Can you hear it?

Not the absence of sound,

but the unique rolling hiss of nothing.

You leave silence when you go,

and though I hear the hush-hush of your breath,

the whisper of skin on sheets,

the murmur of deep sleep thoughts...

It feels like a death.

At 2 am silence and I are like old friends.

The moonlight may as well fall on empty sheets,

because where you sleep is silent.

The fresh breeze smell that clings to them only mocks the day,

and I cannot see the light in that faraway place -

Because the wall of night is solid.

I can press my lips to it and taste the crisp dawn,

and kid myself it won't be long.

And wait out 2 am as it ticks by,

in thundering silence.

But the hour will be drawn across my skin like a knife.

I guarantee it -

and the pain will be nothing compared to the quiet of life

waiting to begin.

In shades of grey,

I can see it.