"Night Sounds"

 

Time slips past midnight    

I fold into a fetus under the quilt    

so the dogs can stretch on the foot of the bed    

Through the open window wafts rose scent     

and Autumn's breath tickles my lashes    

Cold air carries the whine of semis from the highway   

and a lonely canine whimper    

Let me in   

Let me in to warm beds and ticking clocks     

to the pftt, pftt, pftt of my lover's sleep    

I hang in suspension    

half awake, half asleep   

lost between now and then     

Copyright 2012 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman

"Bracken"

 I stood back from the edge

            Expert hands

                        direct my legs through the harness

                        check the hooks

                        pull hard against

                                    the rope

The others wait in nonchalance

            Their laughter

                        spilling around me

                        diving into deeper darkness

                        “Test your weight”

I scoot to the ledge

            my hands grasp

                        the rope

                        TIGHT           

My legs sway free

            feet—

                        butting against the cavern wall

                        repelling me

                                    Outward

                                    Into Space

I look down

            my helmet’s light beam

                        bounces—

                                    off rock

                                    disappears—

                                                into the black void

            Suspended in space and time

I feel

            the rope

            make certain the hooks don’t bite my fingers

                        inches

                                    FEET

                                                YARDS

Above me glimmers a pinprick of light

            Shadow embraces me like a long lost lover

I surrender

            to emptiness

            swaying on

                        the rope

                                    I embrace

                                                its braided strength

                                    I accept

                                                its infallibility

                                    I believe

                                                it won’t let me fall

My feet land in moon dust

            expert hands

                        unbuckle the hooks

                        direct my legs through the harness

                        pull hard against

                                    the rope

Bracken Cave Texas

Copyright 1998 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman