The night was wet as I recall <br />And missing my stop through drunken sleep <br />I had to wait till the driver circled. <br />People left, the bus thinned out <br />But the air it thickened <br />With each rapturous departure. <br /> <br />From 10 to 6 to 4 then 2 <br />All that was left was me and you, <br />And if the night could have blackened <br />Anymore, I'm sure it would have <br />And engulfed us both. <br /> <br />Swishing ditches all around us <br />A brief appearance by the moon <br />Flickered like a warning sign: <br />This was the deep marrow of bone <br />Without other faces for distraction <br />Without drink and interactions – <br />Just you and I, one seat apart <br />In the back of a bus, a bus to nowhere. <br /> <br />Your eyes murdered me that night <br />With chilling insights of what we created. <br />A devouring hate rendering <br />My igniting thoughts lose on me. <br />Your murderous hate was not just that <br />Because it lives on in you, it moves. <br />It breaths. <br /> <br />Looking at it now, I wish it had boiled over. <br />Maybe we would have really killed <br />Each other then, or you me, or I you <br />Or released the infectious gas <br />That has built up, making fools of us all. <br /> <br />The meeting of two souls too different <br />Or just too alike has been left <br />To simmer for now, to curdle. <br />The unknowing bus-driver had circled. <br />I was home at last. <br /> <br />The black wet pavement’s gravel <br />Crunched beneath my shoes like bones. <br />“I'll have you one day, ” <br />I thought you said smiling as I closed the bus door. <br />“What, ” I turned. <br /> <br />“I'll see you Monday, ” you smiled. <br />And I smiled back, “yeah see you then.” <br />Not really caring about time, place or when. <br />Mystified by man’s black creation, how far we can fall. <br />On a night that was wet as I recall.<br /><br />Seán O Muiríosa<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/black-night-2/
