![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Alone-and-at-Night.jpg\")
<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\nby Eliana Sara<\/p>\n
Do you remember when
\nWe were walking late at night
\nAnd the streetlights went out<\/p>\n
One by one
\nLike every horror film you\u2019ve ever seen
\nAt least that\u2019s what you said
\n(I never went for those personally)<\/p>\n
And we realized we were \u201ccity folk\u201d
\nwho are all marked by their shared fear
\nof complete darkness.<\/p>\n
We ended up holding hands
\nand not admitting that
\nwe were both more afraid than we should have been.<\/p>\n
So you went to show off
\nfollowing the path through the \u201cforest\u201d.
\nReally it was just a heavily tree-lined path
\nbut to us, that\u2019s a forest.<\/p>\n
At home there is always some kind of
\ndirty, shady, (likely broken) light.
\nAnd even if they are orange and dim
\nour streets are never empty.<\/p>\n
And we aren\u2019t left to wonder
\nWhat\u2019s crawling through the night
\nAnd if what we hear is human
\nOr something full of bright
\nmenacing smiles and baring teeth
\nlikely faster, stronger, than you
\nand hungry
\nfor meat that\u2019s fresh–
\nAnd you told me to stop.<\/p>\n
I thought it was funny that I scared you.
\nI\u2019m sorry I scared you.<\/p>\n
Do remember we were sure we saw a fire
\nand you wanted to \u201ccheck it out\u201d
\nI had to admire your sense of adventure
\n(but now I think you just wanted to save face).<\/p>\n
I reminded you of your horror movies
\nand told you that it was probably,
\npeople trying to keep warm that night.
\nBesides all that, the leaves crackled loudly
\nand could easily give us away .<\/p>\n
Then I had to remind you
\nas you were walking away
\n(because that\u2019s the first it occurred to me)
\nthat the clich\u00e9 of
\n\u201cstraying from the path\u201d
\nalways ends badly.
\nAnd following lights past the dark
\nand through the leaves can only mean
\nthat you wander off forever.<\/p>\n
You went anyway
\nbut I stayed.
\nWhen the lights came back on
\nI couldn\u2019t see where you had gone.<\/p>\n