Sleeper

When you return, come unnoticed,
Steal back silently late at night, and
Let your entrance be mostly unseen,
Without a trumpet voluntary
To mark the moment
And no grand polonaise,
But return like a tired worker
At the end of the midnight shift,
Moving slowly in the darkness,
Quiet, as not to awaken those who slumber
And dream deeply in metered respiration.
When you come back again,
Let your footsteps fall in the hallway, pianissimo,
Your shadow moving through the bedroom doorway
Just a bit ahead of you.
The nocturne of silhouetted movements as you undress
And clothes fall to the floor
With the muffled rustling of a bird taking flight,
The half-step inversion of you
Peeling back the bedspread and sheet
And your weight shifting on the mattress.

Doug Tanoury

Doug Tanoury was born and raised in Detroit and attended Wayne State University. His work has been published widely both in print and in electronic form. A number of his poetry collections are available in ebook form at: The Poetry of Doug Tanoury and The Poetry of Doug Tanoury. Doug's poetry has been the subject of features in the New York Times Online and The Detroit News. One of his poems also won Honorable Mention in the Detroit Metro Times "Get Lit" special issue of 2006. Much of Doug's online work can be read by typing his last name into any Internet search engine.

Funky Dog Publishing

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