Frozen Ricochet

It’s always felt sad to lose
The stuff that touched your life
The headlights silent scan your room
In the middle of the night
Shadows swell and carousel 
Sweeping the dormant air
The stillness bends but doesn’t break
The furniture doesn’t care

This is every place you’ve ever held
Keys to lock up for the night
And never once imagined how
It rests outside your sight
And driven home defeated
Followed hands and not your head
Making slow turns lost in thought
Empty streets pulled past by reflex

With a lifetime’s worth of practice
You’ve grown too tired to sleep
Eyelid scissors have scraped too blunt
To cut off from the conscious stream
Didn’t even realise they weren’t closed
Until the frozen ricochet
Of soft lamps passing unaware
Showed you your home in a new way

And literally lit up your life
As laid across this space
That you rent and that you cherish
And you wake in and you hate
As a stranger you will never know
For a washing degree
Gifts you a feeling rare and precious
Warm and sad and temporary