Save us from

Save us from night,
from bleak open highways without end,
and the fluorescent oasis of gas stations,
from the gunning of immortal engines past midnight,
when time has no meaning,
from all-night cafes,
their ghoulish slices of pie,
and the orange ruffle on the apron of the waitress,
the matching plastic chairs,
from orange and brown and all unearthly colours,
banish them back to the test tube,
save us from them,
from those bathrooms with a moonscape of skin in the mirror,
from fatigue,
its merciless brightness,
when each cell of the body stands on end,
and the sensation of teeth,
and the mind's eternal sentry,
and the unmapped city
with its cold bed.
Save us from insomnia,
its treadmill,
its school bells and factory bells,
from living rooms like the tomb,
their plaid chesterfields
and galaxies of dust,
from chairs without arms,
from any matched set of furniture,
from floor-length drapes which close out the world,
from padded bras and rented suits,
from any object in which horror is concealed.
Save us from waking after nightmares,
save us from nightmares,
from other worlds,
from the mute, immobile contours of dressers and shoes,
from another measureless day, save us.

- Roo Borson