Socrates feels for the switch...
Damn these old circuits
Could be the whole block
He peers out the pulled curtain
The old plate glass
like a freeze-frame waterfall
flashed by lightening
He feels the old walls again and
smells the floor furnace burning dust
Thoughts of childhood
Elbows on the window ledge
at grandma's house
during a hail storm
She got a new roof after that
Hand along the wall to the back door
This old glass like carnival mirrors
Finally the kitchen light comes back
like a camera flash
The sink knobs turn backward
for a glass of water
Flashes of a last-minute party
not-even planned...
...tastes like a rusty nail
biting the back of his throat
The full glass is emptied back
into the sink with revulsion
The water at his parent's house
tasted so good so pure
The midnight glass fulls as a teen
after a hard night of drinking
cherished like liquid gold
soothing a rough liquored throat...
Going away parties always hurt
(Aww, come on one more, because
we'll never see you again,)
Another flash takes out the lights again
and brings in a solitary drink of failure
an unwelcomed conclusion
tasting a bit like sour tea.