The midnight lake puts its lips
to my eyes and drinks every
starlight wish swimming in hazel.
Not satisfied with the brew of visions
it sends watery death into my lungs
to flood my last breath of July.
Thrashing in waves of lost I am tossed
the life preserver of 1:00 am and a cat
purring rescue across my chest.
Shaken I reach for pen and paper
beside my bed and pray my muse
has escaped the drowning pool of empty.
©Susie Clevenger 2018
