INSOMNIA

There are no stars in the city sky
There's no silence on the city streets
There's not enough darkness to go around
So the city rests but she doesn't sleep

The moon reflects off the rain-wet streets
Callous tires shush a saxophone moan
Buzzing neon outside my window
Teases an apathetic telephone

Life gets shorter
And the nights get longer

A moth ricochets 'round a lamp shade
The roar of airconditioners fill the night
You feel just like one of lifes rags
So you take a shoe and turn out the light

The air doesn't move on a night like this
And there's no comfort in a lonely room
Loneliness will steal your sleep
And sweep your life out with a broom

Life gets shorter
And the nights get longer

You know your ceiling now better than yourself
And every day your room gets smaller
These nights have been a chain of pain
Don't you ever have to holler?

So you take your lumps in lonely exile
Behind fragile private insulation
Like a million other needless sufferers
Slowly starving in isolation

Life gets shorter
And the nights get longer

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Way Out West © 1993 Martin Scherer. E-mail: mscherer@tesserak.net