midnight ride

it's chilly tonight,
but it's what i need.
it'll be alright
as soon as i pick up speed.

the hills laughed
and the curves taunted.
the signs sped past
and the missing stars haunted.

my spoke wheels turned
through the moonlight fog.
i could smell the midnight fern
as echoed, the howling dog.

my legs were screaming
and my feet were freezing.
my spirit was leaning
but the ride would not defeat me.

a flickering lamp post;
the houses clotting.
every shadow as a ghost;
my very demise, plotting.

it's quiet tonight;
different from today.
people about, without fright;
still, they will nothing to say.

their voiceless in daytime;
their business their own.
no faces at nighttime;
inside their houses alone.

around the corner i steer
and cast a skeptical leer.
don't run in fear,
my poor little deer.

it was indeed
a doe and its fawn,
munch on feed
of my faceless neighbors lawn.

a gust of wind
and a crunch of leaves.
the houses at me grin;
icicles from the eaves.

i ride the final stretch,
the hardest of it all.
a second wind i catch
on the lakes restraining wall.

the night is music,
but it requires you to use it.
don't forget; don't you lose it.
you cannot reject; you cannot refuse it.

take a ride;
just you and the sky.
a walk or a stride,
just you and the sky.

listen to the night
with little fright.
who needs light
to hear whats right?

the moon will protect you
and this i promise.
but when it's absent,
you have my fondness.