Sleeper
by Doug Tanoury

When you return, come unnoticed, Steal back silently late at night, and Let your entrance be mostly unseen, Without a trumpet voluntary To mark the moment And no grand polonaise, But return like a tired worker At the end of the midnight shift, Moving slowly in the darkness, Quiet, as not to awaken those who slumber And dream deeply in metered respiration. When you come back again, Let your footsteps fall in the hallway, pianissimo, Your shadow moving through the bedroom doorway Just a bit ahead of you. The nocturne of silhouetted movements as you undress And clothes fall to the floor With the muffled rustling of a bird taking flight, The half-step inversion of you Peeling back the bedspread and sheet And your weight shifting on the mattress.

	Copyright © 2003 by Doug Tanoury. Doug Tanoury is primarily a poet of the Internet with the majority of his work never leaving electronic form. His verse can be read at electronic magazines and journals across the world. The greatest influence on Doug's work was his 7th grade poetry anthology from Sister Debra's English class: Reflections On A Gift Of Watermelon Pickle And Other Modern Verse (Stephen Dunning, Edward Lueders and Hugh Smith, (c)1966 by Scott Foresman & Company) He still keeps a copy of it at his writing desk. See what else we've published by Doug Tanoury. Comments and reflections can be sent directly to Doug Tanoury.

back to RoW