There is a silence
all around
a stillness in the storm
a second before the shot
I am struck by the numbness
the momentary nothingness
that invades this moment of motionless
that slips itself like a spectre
into the cold night air
between the sleep and the sheets
between the suffering and the acceptance
and I am upright
alert, awake
attuned to the sound of nothing
it is a subtle shift
as if a warning is awakening
as if something’s been stolen
a thread, a thought,
a part of my person
now forgotten
I am struck by the numbness
a shot in the dark of all this nothingness
All words by Damien B. Donnelly