the blue cover of night

unable to sleep
for a variety of reasons
I rise
and find my clothes in
the dark.
I peer out the window
at a frozen world
of grey ice
and slush.
not a dog barks, or
fox
howls.
I go down the stairs,
hearing
the creak of wood
I've listened to for
the past 14 years.
what's changed?
I feel the ache in my
knees,
the soreness of work
and age.
I wonder about the next
ten years.
what it will bring.
the woods get lighter
as the winter sun crawls out
from under the blue
cover of night.