Same Night, Different Reasons
You say the nights don't let you sleep,
Mine steal silence they never keep.
We both fight darkness, side by side,
Just different storms we learn to hide.
You miss your peace in endless skies,
I hide whole oceans in my eyes.
People think men are built so strong,
But even iron breaks before long.
I don't crave castles, gold, or fame,
I only call one dream by name.
Someone beside me, warm and near,
To make the lonely disappear.
One gentle hug after the day,
Could wash a thousand fears away.
One hand inside my restless hand,
Would make this broken heart still stand.
I want her heartbeat next to mine,
Like evening prayers that feel divine.
To rest my head upon her chest,
And finally know what people call "rest."
A forehead kiss before we sleep,
The kind of promise souls can keep.
No diamonds shining from above,
Just ordinary married love.
We'll tell each other silly lies,
Just to steal laughter from our eyes.
I'll say, "You're angry? Looking sweet."
She'll softly punch me in the street.
We'll fight for tea or TV shows,
Then laugh before the morning glows.
The world may call such moments small,
But they would mean my life, my all.
I'll hear her stories, long and wild,
Like every grown-up hides a child.
I'll tease her till she rolls her eyes,
Then lose myself inside her smiles.
I'll hold her close when words are few,
She'll know the things I'm going through.
Some feelings never need a sound,
True hearts can hear what isn't found.
But nights... they know another side,
The place where all my demons hide.
Bad dreams arrive without a knock,
Like broken hands upon the clock.
Sometimes I scream inside my sleep,
Sometimes the screams are loud and deep.
I wake with tears I cannot hide,
Yet no one says, "I'm by your side."
No hand to shake my frightened soul,
No voice to make the darkness whole.
No whisper saying, "Wake up now...
You're safe, my love. I'm with you now."
The room is quiet, cold, and bare,
Only the ceiling answers there.
A man can fight the world all day,
Yet lose to silence anyway.
My thoughts don't sleep, they only race,
Running without a resting place.
They chase tomorrow, yesterday too,
Till every fear begins anew.
What if I walk this road alone?
What if no place becomes my home?
What if my dreams just fade away?
What if I fail another day?
I fear the job, I fear the fall,
I fear not living true at all.
I fear becoming less than what
I once had promised... and forgot.
I dream to be a man whose word
Feels stronger than what's simply heard.
A man who stands through loss and pain,
Yet still brings sunshine after rain.
Then sometimes quietly comes your face,
A memory time cannot erase.
Not love that asks for yesterday,
Just prayers that hope you're doing okay.
You found your home, your life, your name,
Your duties changed, your world's not same.
I know your shoulders carry more,
Than office bags from door to door.
So how could I disturb your peace,
Or ask your battles for one piece?
Some truths are kinder left unsaid,
To live inside the heart instead.
If destiny writes one more page,
Beyond this lonely, silent stage,
Perhaps one soul will walk with me,
Not perfect... just my family.
She'll know my scars without my speech,
She'll hold the dreams I cannot reach.
We'll heal each other, day by day,
In small, unnoticed, simple ways.
Till then I'll leave one pillow free,
Beside the lonely side of me.
Not because someone's there tonight...
But hope still sleeps beneath moonlight.
So if one night you lose your sleep,
Know somewhere else, awake and deep,
A foolish poet watches too...
Same sleepless sky.
Different reasons.
Still the same moon.
- Rutvikk Wadkar
