Raging Dawn

Wednesday morning at a restaurant
Fine coffee but a stale croissant
The neon sign bleats, “Eat at Dawn’s Café.”

Rain drums spastic on the street
Drops the awning just can’t keep
The air so thick with voice it breaks away

Then I close my eyes …

I drift into your arms again
When you held the pain at bay
And drove from me the hauntings
Like the ones that plague today
In your softness I found solace
From the burning rage inside
You filled the hollow spaces
Gave such love and then you lied

The waitress smiles and says, “coffee?”
I push the cup our eyes break free
The spoon bends easy in my trembling hand

She thinks to smile, then thinks, “no way”
She turns and quickly scoots away
The pounding clatter more than I could stand

The cold blue steel strapped to my waist
Reminds me there’s no time to waste
I stand and toss the only change I find

Then motion slows to least half speed
My all-consuming need to bleed
The kicking echoes fill my vacant mind

Then I close my eyes …

I drift into your arms again
When you held the pain at bay
And drove from me the hauntings
Like the ones that plague today
In your softness I found solace
From the burning rage inside
You filled the hollow spaces
Gave such love and then you lied

The melting faces seem annoyed
As sirens pierce the storming void
The misty pooling red turns dreary gray

I sit back down and sip my cup
I hear them without looking up
The quiet that will come is welcomed pay

Then I close my eyes …

I drift into your arms again
When you held the pain at bay
And drove from me the hauntings
Like the ones that plague today
In your softness I found solace
From the burning rage inside
You filled the hollow spaces
Gave such love …

So we all died.


“Raging Dawn’s” © John Anthony. All Rights Reserved.