The Sleepless Ones

by Lawrence Tirnauer

(Sources: Be Here Now Network, Facebook, and Tumblr)

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

by Lawrence Tirnauer