A POEM - THE COLD SILENT ROOM

THE COLD SILENT ROOM
Outside the night was roaring
The bars and the streets
Full of drunk and sweaty monsters
Red with sun burns
And black with tattoos
I ventured out to find food
A falafel for a meal
And then some mango and sticky rice
For a filling dessert.
Tall beers along the way.
But the night, the heat, the energy,
It was all too much for me.
So I retreated back to my hotel room,
Cranked up the AC,
Turned on the television
With the volume down very low,
And crawled under the blankets.
I lit a cigarette
And ashed into the crack
Between the bed and the wall.
I worked at another tall boy,
But even the effort of bringing
That bottle to my mouth was too much.
After some time a line came to me.
I opened up my little notebook
And scribbled into it,
“there’s a cold, silent room
in the heart of every man.”