Darkness

Keith Irwin

Something I cannot see passes slowly by me. I can feel its warm breath for just a moment. First it is on my neck, then I can feel it over all of me. For a moment I shudder and think that perhaps it has come to give me lasting rest, but then it’s gone. Beyond me most likely and I am again alone.

I cannot sleep during the day. The sun disrupts me too greatly. and I must not sleep in the night, for I am the darkness and without me the night would be a great nothingness, a time where everything is not. So I cover the Earth restlessly. I am always just behind the wall, wearily creeping. I am so close to everywhere that I observe most everything at some time or another. I cannot help but think about the start and the finish. I cannot stop pondering. For all my observations, I see nothing. After all, I am still darkness.

I am no one’s master and no one’s slave. In that much I am content. I can keep doing my thing, can continue to be. But what I really desire of this world, this existence, is nothing more than a deep sleep and shallow dreams.