30in30, Day 20: "Company"

Company

I wonder if they sense danger in an April breeze,
these others. If they distrust the way the sun
flings out its light as it sets behind the high hills
like mountains all around,
and pull their shades against it.

If the sound of a wind chime fractures
their peace -- what little they've scrounged up,
that is -- and sets their teeth on edge.

Does passing a garage, with its odor of old oil
and dust and grease, punch them in the chest
the way it does me? Does a dove, cooing
from the oleander, provoke a primal urge to curl,
crying, under the smothering hand of the sky?

How many lie awake at night with all the lights on,
baking their brains in their heads like bread, and call
themselves devils?  I know we stoke our own fires.
It's less terrifying, somehow, holding the poker
ourselves, pumping the bellows and blowing
on the tinder, chanting hope as it catches.
Better than letting some other demon
tease the flames, control the height of the sparks
and the heat of the burn. 

We know the darkness; we children
familiar with what happens under its cover.
There is a corner of night in us all,
no moon.
No stars.
We spend a lot of time in ours,
extinguishing the torches as quickly
as we light them.

T.A.B. 4-20-13