Wake
A mouse scurrying round
supper crumbs; thirteen
goblets, the dregs of wine
lying dark within;
torches flickering in the wind
above a sleeping town;
a boy, running,
naked, moaning.
Fireflies challenge
lights on the down,
and win; then nothing,
quiet, a long
silence, waiting
for the dawn.
--Bill Stifler, © 1986