Tired Nights

Some nights are terribly tired,
when the blows of a day's hours
drive us down below our lives
to where the crocodiles glide.
There we learn to swim;
we pick up habits.
In these dark waters, we shove
others aside without a thought.
A great part of me is still submerged,
except for sight and breathing.
I've been trying to climb
back up for fifty years.

Sylvan Moe