daylight

I know that much of what I post on this blog concerns the night, because it is then when I find I am more attuned to the world and myself. The daytime is, well, that by and large concerns the workplace. And there isn't often all too much exciting or sexy in discussing the office, unless I somehow discover a long-dormant fax machine fetish.

Sometimes I feel like a stranger in the daylight.

And yes, it is daylight right now - a Sunday afternoon as I type this and gaze out the front window at the sunshine day, a cool breeze across my unshaven face. I did remember to "spring forward." I found myself drifting off on the couch quite early last night. It was early for a night owl like me, at least. One minute the clock showed 1:00 and the next it was 3:00 and I summoned the energy to trudge to bed.

Friday night our merry assortment of friends, acquaintances, and miscreants gathered at one of our usual destinations on the Lower East Side for Brian's birthday. It was a relatively mellow evening of a few drinks and genial conversation. Of course, one highlight was Robert at a phony octave descanting the Queensrÿche song "En Force." How this musical tangent occurred I can't clearly recall. It's not like Queensrÿche is in regular rotation with any of us. But I found it hilarious, nonetheless. Yes, you had to be there.

So the night dwindled as people trickled out onto the streets. I was soon to follow. Shortly after three o'clock I hailed a cab and clambered in for the long ride uptown to the 59th Street Bridge. I happen to enjoy the solitude of a cab in the small hours. Tipsy, I observe the city of neon and night creatures just beyond the windows of movement, the surge through green lights and thinned traffic. I leave the nocturnal world behind in that last bottle, left in that twenty I slip to the driver, and I head toward slumber as the night draws toward its end.

I embrace the end of the night in sleep, but I smile to know that she will be back.