The power is out.  The phone is out.  And, here I sit with only a solitary candle’s flickering flame shedding precious little light on my paper.  No noises surround me.  There’s no TV, radio or music playing anywhere in the house.  Without electricity, I don’t even have the whirring hum of the ceiling fan overhead, or the sometimes-startling sound of the icemaker discharging its frozen bounty for my iced tea.  I can’t see what time it is; there are no bright digital numbers showing on the alarm clock by my bed.  The darkness and quiet are invading everything, seeming to permeate each corner of this room.  The black of night engulfs me in its ocean of isolation.  I want to scream, to pierce the quiet with a sharp sword of primal sounds.  I want light!  I want sound!  I want…I want…I want!  Help me!  Ah, what I want most is that one special one to triumph over my wants. I want his presence. I want his love.  I want him here with me now.  I want to feel safe with his arms surrounding me, protecting me from this darkness that is overtaking my mind and body.  I want his lips to seek mine, locking into first, a kiss of comfort, and then shifting into one of passion.  I want to feel his warm flesh wrap around me in an unrelenting prison of his masculine arms and legs.  I want to feel his hand running up and down my spine, causing tingles of excitement to course through my body.  I want the sounds of our moans of pleasure to penetrate the quiet.  I want white-hot passion to illuminate the darkness.  I want him.  I want his love.  I want the power of his being to overcome my despair.  I want…I want…I want. Alas, I shall continue to want until he arrives, emerging from the nocturnal indifference as conqueror of my darkness and solitude.