Filling in the Blank

 Filling in the Blank

‘In the blank space

between midnight and dawn,’

she began, and I thought,

What’s blank about that?

Does she sleep blankly,

never dreaming?

Do the large machines in her home

make no white noise in the night?

She obviously does not have

a cat or dog or even bird

with its own nocturnal agendas

involving sound and movement.

And outside in the street,

do no vehicles pass?

No animals or birds

scurry or call?

Is the dead of night

dead silent? 

What about breezes 

or rain, or sometimes thunder?

Even the tiny night insects

and spiders about their business,

unheard by our ears, move 

and un-blank the canvas.

But peace can be

surrounded by life

and does not require

blankness.

Written in response to Poets and Storytellers United's Weekly Scribblings #76: 'Writing a Blank'.