MANIA NO. 9

By Colm Lennon

There’s a man standing on the corner of my mind

Who never smiles

The night girls whisper him their secrets

Crying all the while

Sends the corner boy to the store

For packs of cigarettes

Writes his notes on the backs of the packs

In secret alphabets

I know he knows I know he’s got

Enough to make his case

But I can’t seem to find his eyes behind

The veil of smoke that hides his face

I watch him through the window blinds

Grey and silent as a ghost

Somehow I know he’ll never take me in, and

That’s what bothers me the most

A garbage truck goes blaring by

Like a foghorn in the night

Leaving only him and I

His eyes hid from my sight

I wonder what his secrets are

When he goes home alone

And I decide I’ll meet him on the street

When suddenly, the phone

Goes ringing out, a friendly voice

Or some news on the line

Brings me back inside a world that’s real;

            or, at least, is mine

And when I go to the window

To see what street it is I’m on

I look down on the corner

And I find the man is gone

So I turn on the lantern

And I pull shut the blind

And know I’ll never meet the man

On the corner of my mind

#darkpoetsclub