Nightwatchman
Sleep seeps through the house
from room to room
like evening mist,
enveloping one by one
the bodies laid out
in the darkness.
Now only the last pair of eyes
gleams white in the night,
just that last brain remains
under management control,
turning over and over
some scheme or other.
Hi Jonathan, lovely poem But ‘bodies laid out’ smacks of the morgue..maybe change that phrase?
Glad to see you are back in circulation, Gill! A slightly sinister “morgue” image is what I was aiming for in this poem.
Oh… I loved this… kind of spooky and tender all at the same time??…. Its very potent… I wondered about replacing ‘that’ with ‘one’… i kind of stumbled for the sense at that moment but it was probably just me! I love the last two lines… apt description of wakefulness.
Great title for a poem about wakefulness… love the images in both stanzas. I agree with Fiona about swapping ‘one’ for ‘that’, I too stumbled a little there.
Another atmospheric and potent poem to add to the Mayman collection. Surely it’s time for a pamphlet?