3 a.m.

Heavy rain
    blown against my window

by a bitter wind.

The log in the fireplace crackles
and the candles flicker eerie shapes

on the wall.

I watch the fire
    never making the same shape twice.

I try to think of better nights
    when we would stay up

all night long

making love.

They're so long ago
    but I've done so little since then
that the memory is still clear.

The old clock on the wall

strikes 3 a.m.

and as I slip off

attempting to sleep

I think of how things were

    when you were here.

Copyright © 1976 by Jace Carlton and Diamond Heights Press
Copyright © 2004 renewed by Jace Carlton

and Quiet Storm - Rolling Thunder Press

All International Rights Reserved.
No part may be reproduced in any form without written permission.

Excerpt from Sounds of Darkness published by Diamond Heights Press,
an imprint of the Quiet Storm - Rolling Thunder group