Ticket 2 Ride

Shadow boxing with the darkness

A feeling of being eyeballed

Darkness consumes the sunset

Could my number be called

—

Summoning a stalwart defense

Pieces and parts, it’s a beginning

Hard liquor, soft landing

Leaves your tired psyche spinning

—

Teasingly, the white whale circles

A siren call cuts the night to shreds

Digging into the subconscious

Bypassing recreational meds

—

This devil knows the pathways

Reading us like a good book

Taunting, going for the underbelly

Stealing away, a cunning crook

—

He’ll be back, frequently

To pick at secrets and flaws

Turning them over in your head

Piercing you with sharp claws

—

A master, disarmingly charming

Knowing where to mine

Rummaging through locked memories

Knocking you offline

—

The sandman is a sociopath

Don’t fall for his nursery rhymes

He scurries in the night

And then the doorbell chimes