Bench by the Gate

I sit alone

Basked in the glow

From a streetlight above

The bench by the gate

I came at night

Seeking escape

Seeking to embrace

My thoughts, myself

It’s brisk

I sit on the old wood

This path a barrier

Between concrete and grass

In the distance engines roar

All around me, crickets

I cover my ears, hoping for quiet

But still the chirps ring through

I fail to sort my thoughts

My mind remaining cluttered

I want to feel, to cry and

Yet my eyes do not oblige

I’m here at the edge

Between many things

I did not find them

On the bench by the gate

I rise, stretch

begin to walk back

To cut away my worries and

Prepare to ignore them tomorrow

~Guy Melletto