Night Shift

With a heavy heart
I pack a bag with items of survival
Cigarettes, diet coke, dog-eared novel
(Pages of which will never be turned)

With envy burning behind my eyes
I absorb the final picture
(Legs stretched out, Budweiser near to hand)
The promise of a warm bed
Waiting like an old lover

The television flirts shamelessly
I am riddled with jealousy as he succumbs to its powers
With a bitter tasting kiss
I say my farewells

The clock is ticking

Through the darkening streets
I seethe
I am incensed by the blatant visions of bliss
The swarm of insects scuttle in and out of pubs
How I long to mangle their alcohol sodden bodies
Beneath the heavy foot of my hostility

Condemned, I walk the familiar path
This fate and I have met before
I will survive. I have done so in the past.
Yet I bear witness to the many hours
Strained, stretched like elastic
The hands of the clock rotating backwards

On aching legs I trudge to four O'clock
Moisture quickly evaporating
From the thirsty pools of my eyes
At my leaden watch I curse a dreadful oath

When I thought I couldn't make it
(Aluminium coke can ammunition depleted)
Stale cigarette smoke swirling in a sour stomach
I at last triumph over the night

My prize, a solid silver morning
And a guarantee of conscious release
I stand, throwing a victorious salute
At the wounded, fleeing night

With the last of my dwindling energy
I return to my sleeping haven
I notice with relish, the insects of a new day
Emerging, bleary eyed and resentful
How I laugh and mock them as they scurry
From beneath the cosy boulders
Of the slumber they had to leave behind