Give Me the Night, Any Day

moonI do not wake up “happy.” I do not greet the dawn with “a smile on my face and a song in my heart.” In fact, my first thought when I awaken is usually, “Oh, crap. I didn’t die in my sleep again last night.”

The older I get, the more I see the daylight hours as something to “get through” in order to reach the night’s quiet solitude.

During the day, I am constrained – by obligations, expectations, and people who have put me in a tidy little box. “We know who you are. Please be that.” Come the night, that all falls away. Alone, in solitude, I can just be me, instead of that.

It is in the lack of light that I truly see. The daylight blinds. It is the night’s darkness that opens wide the eyes. Oh, look at that. How beautiful.

think better at night, or maybe just more. The days are filled with reacting, to people, situations, and an endless stimulus of sights accompanied by a cacophony of sounds. The night quells those things, leaving only me and my thoughts.

It is in the night that I know who I am and sometimes glimpse what I am to be.

It is in the night that I come to know the
endless
possibilities.

And it is in the night that I have come to know what Paul Simon meant when he wrote,

“Hello, Darkness, my old friend.”

It is in the night.

11 comments

  1. Wow! Beautifully written … and so on point. My life in a nutshell!

    Please don’t stop writing. You’re the gift that keeps on giving…through your amazing writing and humor. Thank you!

    Nicole xoxo

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  2. I just read an amusing tweet of yours, that someone I follow favorited, and it lead to this. Wow. Very touching, and clever… can relate in some ways too. Thank you 🙂

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  3. I appreciate and share your feelings about the night. I worked second shift for 22 years, and even delivered the Boston Evening Globe as a teen. I didn’t learn to function in the morning until I turned 40. I still enjoy the night, and have a grown daughter here who often enjoys it with me. Evening bliss is special.

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  4. Five months ago, I was forced to give up night work after eight years, not continuous. Since then I have been working days. Now I sit up all night, wondering what the difference is between nights and days?

    Sir, you have answered my question, beautifully.

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  5. one of my earliest memories …. my mother came into my room singing about morning, and toddler me screamed at her. (if I had known the words it would have been F you!)

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