The clock has struck midnight and all is quiet in our neck of the woods.
But there was a time, a few years back, a certain small girl (she knows who she is) thought midnight was not a time for sleeping, but singing.
It’s actually more like a quarter of a century back, and now there’s another certain small girl who prefers singing to sleeping.
I wrote a poem about the first small girl back then, but then left it sleeping in a file. . . until last year, when I woke it up, gave it a wash and brush-up, and sent it out into the world, a.k.a Mayhem Literary journal, to sing.
Poems are like photographs – they can capture a moment in time as vividly as any picture.
What moments in your children’s lives are poem material?
At Midnight
You sing like a bird
who never heard of the sun
going down – gulp a breath
in the middle of a word,
so air flows sharp in your throat
and the next note is too high
or too low.
This is what serenades me to bed:
your midnight solo.
In a moonlit wedge of open door,
I see you perched on the edge
of your bunk, a fledgling
on a wooden fence, singing songs
that were old when I was young.
You know every word.
I creep to bed. I haven’t the heart
to tell you be quiet, go to sleep.
I hear when you lie down –
your voice shivers, slides into silence.
In the space of a yawn,
you are asleep again
and I am left listening to the way
the air around you breathes.
What a lovely short poem. I love it.
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thank you
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I love this poem! it makes me want to read it out loud
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thank you!
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You have such a way with words, Trish! This is easily my favorite poem that you’ve written. Loved reading it.
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thank you Erica
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What a beautiful poem! It’s wonderful you came across it and decided to publish it – it’s so nice to read poetry every so often!
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thank you
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My two ladies (Wife and daughter) are talented bathroom singers. Sometimes I just wonder if I should start “The Voice” Bathroom version because they will win anyday anytime.
Great poem you have here.
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The Voice bathroom style would be great!
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What a lovely poem. We all need a bit of poetry in our busy lives. thank you.
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thank you
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This is so beautiful and I love how it makes me think and read deeply. Glad you came upon this poem again
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thank you
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Very nice poem. I’m glad I stumbled upon it 🙂
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Thank you
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Hi Trish, you might like my story – 1940’s dad was away in R.A.F. (U.K) When he came home, he like listening to the radio listening to Opera music, mum and me had to sit still and be quiet. This way I learned by absorbing a lot of music. I would get my own back on dad, when they sent me to bed I would lay and sing the Opera I had just heard. Though the open window my singing floated into the street, passers-by would shout up to me “For God’s sake shut up and go to sleep”. I would be about 8 -9 years old. My favourites were Carmen and Tosca.
Marjorie Lacy.
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Love it!
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Familiar experiences around midnight, but not with a blackbird. Beautifully expressed night interruption – will give future events a more positive, peaceful aura.
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Thank you Jenny
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Trish, your poetry makes my heart so happy. What a beautiful story it tells.
My son is a jokester and cannot seem to sit still or quiet himself in class lately which means I’ve been getting a few phone calls from teachers this past week. Although we have had some extensive “serious” talks with the kid, I can’t help but laugh and think how much like me he is. So needless to say, this development has given me some new writing material! Kids sure have a way of lifting the writers block!
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Thank you, Lindsay. Yep, kids are great inspiration for writing – always some material there!
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I studied English literature at university and have been a big fan of poetry. It is not easy. You have to go deep and be introspective and come out with words that will move humans. An amazing poem and love the birds.
jerry godinho
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Thanks so much, Jerry.
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Beautiful poem Trish. There are so many naturally talented singers in the world. Sadly I’m not one of them!
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Lol, I’m not one of them either!
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Very beautiful. It made me think of my girls. They sing in their beds at night. It is very peaceful, and it makes my heart smile when I hear them singing.
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Such a delight hearing them, isn’t it.
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I have a little bird myself who likes to sing at night. She thinks no one is listening but we all are and we love it. Glad to see you’re writing again. Good luck with Mayhem.
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It’s lovely hearing them isn’t it?!
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I love this poem. Honestly, it makes me think about my niece when I am over babysitting and like you in the poem, I don’t have the heart to tell her to stop singing. Instead, I enjoy listening to it, remembering that she’s only going to be this young for such a short period of time…
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Thank you. And yes, exactly, it’s such a short period of time – just got to enjoy it!
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Such beautiful words about the midnight singer. I’m glad you woke your poem and sent it to Mayhem. It deserves to be heard far and wide.
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Thank you – it’s a lovely memory to have captured
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