With my cup of cocoa and loose t-shirt
I’d huddle up next to the window
And pull the blinds just above my eyebrows
Take in the asphalt, luminous
Masked by scheming houses
Holding steady to the gloom of day


But, there would be this man
Distant, disfigured
A neighbor who’d I only see
Now, walking his dog
Street light illuminating his
Withdrawn demeanor

He slips in from behind the post office
His dark clothes shrunken down with his
Darker face
The sad stories he’d never tell
Seen by
His shoulders
Slumped, like me

But the dog, cold and shivering
Would trudge on towards its home
Leading the ritual to a close
The late night hum of air conditioners
And the eerie glow of the moon
Once more taking the night