The Sleepless Ones by Lawrence Timaue

The Sleepless Ones:

What if all the people who could not sleep
at two or three or four in the morning
left their houses and went to the parks

what if hundreds, thousands,
millions went in their solitude
like a stream and each told their story

what if there were old women
fearful if they slept they would die
and young women unable to conceive
and husbands having affairs
and children fearful of failing
and fathers worried about paying bills
and men having business troubles
and women unlucky in love
and those that were in physical pain
and those who were guilty

what if they all left their houses
like a stream and the moon
illuminated their way and
they came, each one
to tell their stories

would these be the more troubled
of humanity or would these be
the more passionate of this world

or those who need to create to live
or would these be the lonely ones

and I ask you

if they all came to the parks
at night and told their stories
would the sun on rising
be more radiant

and again I ask you
would they embrace

~ Lawrence Tirnaue