—a poem for two voices
Long after midnight

	silence pools within

		this inn       within

			the city
Sliced by

				someone’s snores

				the giggle of a baby

				a motorcycle sputtering by
Each sound
				the keying of a lock

				creak of a door

				marching steps up the main street
Each sound

	sinking
				the cooing of a caged dove

				rustle of bedclothes, squeak of springs

				a truck shifting gears
Each sound

	sinking into the

		depths
				a television tuned to the late-late show

				dripping water from a faucet

				distant bark of dogs
Each sound

	sinking into the

		depths of the night’s
				quitted shoes falling on a wooden floor

				hushed voices
Each sound

	sinking into the

		depths of the night’s

			silence