streetlights

streetlights

copper light stretches across my bed

delicately coiling around my ankles, pulling on my bones

and climbing up my body

the gentle tug is no longer gentle

wrapping tightly around my ribs

bands of copper pressing inwards

drawing me to my window

the night sounds like velvet:

dark and rich and seductive

making me ache to step outside and 

run my hands across it

a car drives by and pins me in place

with its headlights

tearing the velvet from my ears and the coils from my ribs

but it can’t dull the ache