Night by Michael Keshigian

From its depths
and impenetrable thickness,
his silence floats
as he senses the darkness
that engulfs him,
inhaling his breath
and stifling his comfort,
until he coughs
and splays forward a translucent cloud
that frays immediately in front of him,
thread by thread
the formation disintegrates within
the invisible thicket of trees,
all dark, all obscured,
even his sense of living.
This midnight abode
with its shattered windows
and moss laden roof,
resembling a fantasy of the mind,
resting quarters for the afterlife
replete with its deadening quiet
and unpredictable occurrences,
compelling him to reach
for something tangible,
a direction toward security,
arms contorted,
legs stumbling,
bludgeoned by the blackness,
having only his heartbeat
to guide him.

Michael Keshigian has been published in the Sierra Nevada Review, Oyez Review, Chiron Review, California Quarterly, and Edison Literary Review among many others.  He has 7 Pushcart Prize and 2 Best Of The Net nominations.