Zwischenzeit (meantime, interim)

There’s something strange about this place,
Between breathy dark and early dawn,
A silence noisy
with the whirring of restless minds.
Night time never fully black
In a city with insomnia.

Anything is possible when heads are hot and bodies cold,
when figures stripped of character
have no proof of what they are
and are left with empty rooms
to fill with shadowy imaginings.
-greyish shapes disguise
their true identity
to become nightmarish creatures
(though not the kind we used to know
-winged and horned-) now with murderous intent.

For those who Sleep so skilfully evades
in the early hours normally filled with busy dreams
Reality is all too real
without fantasy to delude.
Planes of gusty purpose-built irritation
take up available space,
Amongst the sirens bordering on actual happenings
-yet all too far away from the crime.
For those who have been robbed of their sleep,

the thieves will remain forever free