An old orange politician recently said, “I don’t know how long I’ll be around.”
Neither do you.
Neither do I.
At midnight the house settles.
Moonlight slips through a torn blind. A crack runs the length of the ceiling. Downstairs, the TV hums. A red line crawls across the screen. Same suit. Same stare. Same warning.
This time we’re cornered.
The words seep under the door.
I’ve seen what anger does.
It tightens a jaw. It hardens a voice. It turns a living room into a trench. A remote digs into a palm. The air changes. Quiet slips out the back and doesn’t come home.
Fear sells. Outrage fills airtime. The loud speak as if they own the clock.
They don’t.
Morning still comes.
Coffee steams. Light hits the wall. A child sleeps under a small blue nightlight. Breath in. Breath out.
That’s the measure.
Names fade from stone. Crowns sink into dirt. Breath leaves bone. That’s the bargain.
So choose.
Don’t bow to every shaking voice. Don’t drown in every midnight wave. Don’t hand your mornings to a glowing screen.
Guard the quiet in your house.
Rise at dawn.
You don’t know how long you’ll be around.
Here and now is yours.
Keep it.
Don’t Know How Long I’ll Be Around
Crack in the ceiling tonight
Moon through a torn blind
I lie awake
Listening
TV hums downstairs
Same suit, same stare
Says this time
We’re cornered
Another red line on the screen
Another “don’t look away”
It comes through wires and settles in
And stays
I don’t know how long I’ll be around
How many mornings I’ve got now
I won’t spend them staring down
At that glow
I don’t know when my days run out
I won’t hand them over to doubt
All I know is here and now
Is mine
Yard sign bent in rain
Slogan running like paint
Last year’s promise
Fading
My kid asleep upstairs
Nightlight on the wall
My father shouting at the set
Remote tight in his palm
They speak like time’s their own
Like we won’t see the cost
But I’ve seen what anger does
I don’t know how long I’ll be around
So I won’t let my life drown
In every wave that hits this town
At midnight
I don’t know when the last light’s gone
But I’ll be up at dawn
’Cause here and now is all I own
And it’s mine
Names fade from stone
Crowns fall to dirt
Breath leaves bone
That’s how it works
I’ve seen what anger does
It took the quiet from our house
I won’t trade what breath I have
For silence like that again
I don’t know how long I’ll be around
But I won’t bow my head down
To every voice that shakes this town
For ratings
I don’t know how my story ends
But I know what I won’t let in
And I’ll guard the quiet in this house
If I can
