When the Lights are Out

When the Lights are Out                                                       January 28, 2007

I never knew what night was like before
Until I couldn't close my eyes.
It's not as dark as it seems, and yet it's really so opaque.
Sometimes you simply think that
There ain't a shooting star in the sky,
But I've been up, it seems, a fortnight now,
And I simply can say, "I know better" tonight.

Sometimes I wonder what it's like when the lights are out.
I'd like to know lest it ever occur.
The mind is so restless, for it never seems to lie down,
Nothing for it to rest in state upon.  No sir,
Must be the gods' condescending air.
They measured my mind once upon a time at a healthy 146,
But I was 13, and that was so long ago.
I'm a cerebral vagabond, I am, today and forever more.
I'd like to know now if my mind has assimilated with God's.
Could I, will I ever face the truth?
Will tomorrow be the day I rest my mind?
Will this night be when the lights are out?
Could it be the time when the lights are out?

My friends, what's life like when the lights are out?

What happens when the neurons have slowly shut things down?
Do you still ponder the cosmic workings of the universe?
Do you still color the night sky navy blue instead of a paltry black?
What's it like to live a life of rudimentary normalcy?
What can you tell me about your knowledge
Of the truth of the night sky and its sea?
Will I ever gain a simple grasp of the origins of matter?
Will I have many more lonely nights breathing like it's day?
Will I ever go to sleep with the moon setting over the bay?

I'm getting very tired of a life alone at night
When I can't seem to slow down for my mind keeps a-running.
Things are getting hazy, and I'm growing old and cranky
At the quarter-century mark of 25.
Come the Ides of June, will I still be getting humbled astray?
Will my mind wander to the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic?
I feel like Bonaparte, man, for it's a bitch being alone
When the lights go out, and you feel like nobody's home.