The night rides away, the dark mare,
I leave the reins as I see her go past me,
With deep, dark, balmy eyes
For I have promised not to sleep with her
Not tonight.
The blurred glare of the faraway window lamp,
Promises a softening at daybreak,
I stare till all becomes a yellow lurid star,
Yet the stubborn black refuses to fade,
No drop of purple-pink soothes the eastern scape,
No chirps or flutters greet the dawn,
A dawn that never came today.
I have promised not to sleep with night tonight,
Yet a time of failed promises is this,
If I sleep, shall day ever come?
Or shall the promise-extracting night-mare prevail?
I shall not go with night, no, not tonight,
I shall gaze unto an imagined sky,
Where stars struggle to keep night alight,
The stars too, will die, tired
When night will ride on like the mare in heat.
For I have promised not to sleep with her,
Not tonight.
