Night

I love to walk across the night
With no one else at all in sight
Beneath the beauty of the stars
Unseen, as if I had no scars.

At day when people rush about
I notice more the love left out.
The battered heart that’s on my sleeve
Is better treated when I leave.

My loneliness, the haunting pain
At least will leave no trace, no stain-
And I forget it’s even there
When walking through the evening air.

I know the miles which comfort me
Are waiting for me patiently,
And I will add them one by one
To every day when it is done.

Inheritance, my father too
Would walk like this when days were through.
But he knew love was waiting when
He would be back with Mom again.

Orion watches as that friend
Who’s waiting for me at days end.
There’s always comfort, come what may,
Just waiting at the end of day.

John H. Bidwell