I could not sleep

I pull on jeans, socks and shoes,

Wriggle a sweater over my night shirt,

And drive twenty miles

Into the hills north of town.

I ease off the road, out of sight,

Into an unfenced field;

Nobody drives the empty highway.

The weight of the black night sky,

The heavy moon, the crush of stars,

Settles over my shoulders.

Prairie wind hems me to earth

Like a patch hand-stitched to a quilt.

Grasses sway to my breath.

Here I wait for the peace,

For the magic which never arrives.

I forgot to bring it with me.

When false dawn smears the sky

I wipe my face, drive home

And go to bed.