Midnight Theology

Street down by where I live.

Cool glass
slides away
so easily
opening
the path
for me
to slip away
into the night.

A glance back
the door is locked
the house is silent.
A moment's hesitation
before I reach up,
and swing easily
up
and out.

Cold air
whips around me,
shivering,
I pull my jacket closer
to me,
push the gate
open, and
escape.

The street
is wide.
Nearly empty
but for a few cars,
and myself.
Mostly likely
summer travelers,
I like to make up stories for them.

Walking along
the road, I catch
a few strange looks
through windshields.
All is silent
but for tires on pavement
my padded bare footsteps
and my slow, rhythmic breathing.

Eventually
it occurs to me
that I'm breaking
the law
so, laughing
I shield my face
from the few cars
that pass.

It's a joke, really
I don't know them
nor they, me.
We're just strangers-
nobodies.
Passing by each other
in a midnight moment
suspended in time.

So I walk.
Past the road
out into fields
over fences
beneath buzzing
electrical
towers.
I walk.

I walk
until I am gone
there is no me.
There is no one.
There is only
the grass
and the sky,
and a nobody.

Lying, back down,
looking up through
the tall grass
it soon becomes apparent
the stars
are shy
tonight.

Covered in clouds
the come and go.
Never really there
but
never
really
gone.

The only constant
is the moon
shining,
luminescent,
lights
my path
back
home.

As I cross
the road
once more
I greet
my fellow
nobodies,
before slipping back
through the gate.

As I run,
giggling
all the way,
across the yard
trying not
to be seen
I smile
and wave.

"Goodnight,"
my silent whisper
to the stars,
"'Adieu,
parting is such
sweet sorrow'."
I smile and climb
back into bed.