Cotton sleep escapes me.
Her velvet black cape
rounds the doorway
and
She giggles as she
goes down the hall.

Away from me.

With steps
like cat’s patter
on gray carpet.

Husband snores shake m
as pillow-too-warm
and flat frustration
and sneezing
win.

I lay peering at
the milky darkness,
friends with the silence
for now.
Wide awake exhaustion
soaks through me.

I wait
I listen
as crickets call…