Dead at Midnight (poem by Andy Derryberry)

A cold day drizzling rain
I stir my coffee
And listen for what isn’t there

Something missing
What could it be?
The love that was you and me

Scratching the walls
Tearing up the furniture
Knocking over lamps

Running hot and loud
Howling at the moon
Screaming in the wind

Out until daybreak
Reeling in the flow
Exhausted in a heap

That love was you and me

I look around the house
Where did it go?
Wasn’t it here just yesterday?

Then I see a trace
A tattered piece under the sofa
Dusty and moldy with spider webs

I pull it out quickly
But it seems lifeless
A shell of what it was

911 arrives right away
The EMTs working fast and hard
But that look they give me

“No hope friend
But we’ll keep it alive
For the emergency room”

Crash carts flying
Gurnery’s sliding
Just like TV

The hectic pace goes
Far into the night
But as the hands are straight up

“It’s time”
Looking at the clock
“Dead at midnight”

***