NIGHT SHIFT

I ate late.

Then, I had to work.

I did half of it-

I got sleepy, too early.

I lay in bed, read, couldn’t sleep,

because of my stomach,

perhaps.

It never pays to change the subject.

So I went downstairs, to shave, watch tv.

I went out, peed in the wind,

watched the night sky,

felt like a question mark,

then an exclamation point.

I ate again,

counting on the stomach pill I had taken,

the cola I would enjoy.

Another reincarnation of loneliness.

The day strikes back,

again and again,

so do the years,

like unsolved mysteries.