James Babbs

Darkness Means the Absence of Light

Darkness means
The absence of light and
I sit here in the dark
Finishing another beer and
Thinking too much about the past.
Sometimes
The darkness grows arms and
Large hands emerge from
The ends of those arms and
The hands reach out for me
The hands grab me and
Pull me closer to the darkness.
I get up and drop
The empty bottle in the trash
Before getting another beer from the fridge.
Sometimes
The darkness grows heavy and
It turns into walls and
The walls rise up surrounding me
Until I’m trapped inside of them and
I run my hands
Up and down the walls
Looking for some kind of opening and
I keep lifting the bottle to my lips
Before taking a long drink and
Putting the bottle down again
Feeling the motion of my arm
As it rises up and then falls,
Rises up and then falls,
While I’m sitting here in the dark.

Sometimes the Birds Don’t Sing

I thought I knew what madness was
but I guess I was wrong
and I thought I knew about love
but it didn’t turn out
the way I hoped it would
and the sun doesn’t always feel warm
when it caresses the side of my face
and sometimes there are spaces
where the light refuses to fall
and sometimes in the trees
right outside my window
the wind catches in the branches
and makes a strange kind of sound
and sometimes the birds
only want to sing sad songs
or sometimes
they don’t want to sing at all
I thought I knew what madness was
but I guess I was wrong

    

James Babbs likes the night life but he doesn’t like to boogie.  James has written hundreds of poems and a few short stories over the years and has even had a few of them published.  If you happen to visit the internet you may find something he has written.