At Night

How can I call out? How can I shout?
In silence everything is fragile as glass.
Having laid its head on the receiver,
the telephone sleeps soundly.

I'll walk across the sleeping city
through a snowy side street.
I'll go up to your window,
quietly and tenderly.

I'll protect you from the street sounds with the palms of my hands,
the streets ringing with drops of melting snow.
I'll put out the lamps to keep your eyes in sleep.
I'll command the spring to put the nightsounds in order.

So, what kind of person are you in sleep!
Your arms have grown so weak
Fatigue is concealed in the wrinkles of your eyes—
tomorrow I'll kiss them so no trace remains.

I'll watch over your sleep 'til dawn,
then leave in the clean snowy morning,
forgetting about my tracks in the snow,
through the dry leaves of last autumn.

Daniel Halpern with Albert Todd


(Just before Jade closed down LOTL, I dashed in and grabbed everything I thought I might wish I had kept - including almost all of the poetry, particularly the ones written by us. I can't remember who posted the above, but its one that's always stuck in my head - that first line especially.)