Tonight

As a child I believed
you could hear the sea in a shell;
Now a cupped hand does the job
just as well-
it’s too cold to venture out tonight.

Tonight
everything seems de-romanticized,
I stand stripped of wonder.
The more you know, the more you wish
you didn't.

Snap crackle pop
words stop
to make way for a passing thought.

Tonight
my pine scented candle burns down,
mixes with cheap potpourri,
teases my throbbing sinuses.
A painful reminder of a careless late shower.

Darkness encroaches on the flame
a little sputter,
a final wheeze,
and then it’s gone.
The shadows die a silent death.

Tonight
I pine for my family.
Ten thousand miles away
my mum sneezes.

In the stillness the phone rings
three times.
I pick it up, put it down and draw the blinds
Tonight is for silence.