Sleep-less

Sleep-less

when the black void reveals sha-

                  dows

stripped to gray

         familiar shapes solid-

                                       ify

night thoughts hov-

         er 

on the edge

chaos looms

          in the gloam-

ing

abandoned   by

                            rea-

son

the plain-

tive train whistle

floats up from the river

        captured

          in a lonely distil-

lation

poignantly palliative 

and

           I yearn to      run through

     the dark night

legs pump-

         ing

              hands grasp-

   ing purchase

  as the whistle

        pierces

     the veil

--Katherine M. Searle

   5 January 2016