LONG, LONELY NIGHTS



A man may live long, lonely nights
That seem to last forever,
Deprived of sleep by health and poverty
Sleep seems to greet him never.

A night may last a thousand years
Or so it seems to the poor man,
When longed for sleep just never comes
Though why, he cannot understand.

A man may roam spring's twilit paths
Though afraid of whom he'll meet,
In a desperate hope to gain fatigue
And with it, much-needed sleep.

Night-time comes, yet never goes
Or so, to the man, it seems,
He's lonely, lost, and tormented
And through the night he grieves:

He grieves for much-needed sleep
Since for years he's had no rest,
He remembers the time when sleep came easy
But doesn't know when it will come next.

For night-time is a lonely time
For those who live alone,
And though he yearns for a family
He knows he'll always be on his own.

Night-time is an awful time
For a man who has no dreams,
When a single night may last for years
Or at least that's how it seems.

THE END
© Copyright 2021, Philip Roberts
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

About this poem

A man may live long, lonely nights That seem to last forever, Deprived of sleep by health and poverty Sleep seems to greet him never.

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Written on February 14, 2009

Submitted by PHIL_ROBERTS on August 18, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

59 sec read
5

Quick analysis:

Scheme XABA CXXX XXXD XEXX DXBX FGBG FECE XXX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 992
Words 191
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3

Phil Roberts

I turn 65 on the 31st of January 2022. I love cats, rock music, and horror fiction and poetry more…

All Phil Roberts poems | Phil Roberts Books

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