COMING HOME

Sometimes as you step inside from the rain you wonder
Is the universe anything more than these electric lights
And lifting mists and rows of buildings
That impinge the blue darkness?
Across the river red lights on radio towers are signaling
To the low ceiling of the night
While below your apartment the traffic slows
For the Stop sign and then
Goes on
Car after car as clouds come on to rain and then
Go on there way too
You lock the door then put away your coat and things
It is the hour of return
Of safety and rest now that the working day is done
Now television dramas can cry their tears into the prime time night
So that we understand again what it is
To feel things
And even though the woman in that commercial
Is only with you for thirty
Seconds before she disappears and
Another one takes her place in the broadcast parade of smiles
She remains in your mind for a long time afterwards
As if you had wanted to ask her
Beautiful Lady
What are you dreaming of with your oval face
And expensive haircut posed so seductively
Against that bar of soap?
You won't be able to touch her name and she
Will never know your eyes but for a moment
And its after-moment in a room
Of quiet furniture
She is everything

— stephen gibson