Neighbors

Shouting from the depths of a broken heart...
Joyful laughter as the baby crawls...
Snoring like a steamboat's horn while recovering from a long day...
Ceaseless moans of pain and pleasure...
Slamming doors to say what words cannot...
Angry children stomping through the yard to escape their mother's disappointment...

The neighborhood bustles with the sounds of relationships.
Every home erupts with emotion.
Life fills the air, the streets, the alley ways.

I lie here listening.
I lie here still, afraid any movement will disturb the destiny of this night.
I lie here listening.
I lie here still and wondering what it would be like to feel those things. Any of those things. Any extreme of those things.

Clanging bottles hit the bottom of the dumpster as the barkeep tends the trash across the street.
The wind lightly rattles my windows.
The yelling, laughing, snoring, moaning, slamming, and stomping stops.

I lie here listening.
I lie here listening to the silence, afraid because its quiet now.
I lie here listening.
I lie here still and wondering what the aftermath or afterglow of such glorious emotion must be like.