After Midnight

Patsy Cline sang part of the story,
longing welling up from a lovelorn soul
and yearning to connect.

Eric Clapton related yet another side,
the wildness of the hellraiser within letting loose
and abandoning all control.

Yet there’s more, so much more,
to entering the wild night, beginning as human
and ending as another animal.

We strip away the extraneous and become primal
when we walk the world after midnight,
sound and scent then more reliable than sight.

The rhythm of bootheels clocking down the road
becomes syncopated with a heightened heartbeat,
nostrils flaring to breathe deep scent released by night alone.

We are truer versions of ourselves as we feel our way
through the dark, only to feel the sweet relief
of being welcomed by the beckoning lights of home.