In the whirr of the night
After days of bad news
I hear you shout
In your removed room
Far off from help
Alone, asleep, and terrified
By some secret
Untold in the day,
Surfacing tonight.
Your yellish noise was utterly strange
To an ordinary ear:
Impossible from a daytime mouth,
Though undeniably human.
Begun with one long-drawn heavy aspiration,
From your whole weighted chest it heaved,
As though you were crying for help
But rushed to cry help’s meaning
Without the power of speech.
Now standing at your door
With worried eyes I watch you:
Covered, still and quiet
I cannot know what frightened you
Or haunts you still or always.
In the morning I do not dare to ask,
Nor would you ever say.
After days of bad news
I hear you shout
In your removed room
Far off from help
Alone, asleep, and terrified
By some secret
Untold in the day,
Surfacing tonight.
Your yellish noise was utterly strange
To an ordinary ear:
Impossible from a daytime mouth,
Though undeniably human.
Begun with one long-drawn heavy aspiration,
From your whole weighted chest it heaved,
As though you were crying for help
But rushed to cry help’s meaning
Without the power of speech.
Now standing at your door
With worried eyes I watch you:
Covered, still and quiet
I cannot know what frightened you
Or haunts you still or always.
In the morning I do not dare to ask,
Nor would you ever say.