Verse: What the Night Sky Taught Me

I
First
was the fear

how it consumed
the impossible blue
and the incandescent too
all gone

I left
the night light on
so the nightmares
could not catch me
unawares

Taught myself
to recognize
and wake up
when they approached

to this day
I cannot sleep
through the night

II
I counted
and I called
and nothing

I wished
and I watched
and nothing

It was
my curse
to be born
in the middle
of the afternoon

the night does not
recognize me
as one of its own

III
It is
a wonder
that those stars
don't fall
for all the hopes
we pin on them

or that
we don't turn
our backs on them
for all the wishes
unrequited

IV
if there is
to be any judgment

let it be delivered
by a starless sky

so those million eyes
will not scorn me

and the moon
will not swallow my soul