Into the Night
Bart Edelman
If you manage to go
Too quietly into the night,
Who knows you’re there?
How does it feel, lost,
Somewhere out among stars,
Unfamiliar with the route.
Believe me, a destination exists,
For each and every one of us—
Even when it seems, oddly,
Impossible to conceive.
This is why frequent noise,
Always eases the journey,
Keeps you from needless sleep,
When the end is in sight—
Despite your failure to see it.
Shout, sing, speak, summon.
Surely, make yourself heard.
Greet the darkness with grit.
Become what it is you desire.
Tell a tale well worth told.
Bart Edelman’s poetry collections include Crossing the Hackensack, Under Damaris’ Dress, The Alphabet of Love, The Gentle Man, The Last Mojito, The Geographer’s Wife, Whistling to Trick the Wind, and This Body Is Never at Rest: New and Selected Poems 1993 – 2023. He lives in Pasadena, CA.