Mistress

Jake Stains

A light turns on and drowns the stars

in electric white as I’m awoken from a dream.
She stands in the doorway,
pulling her night gown over her cold bare body
and asks me if I’m coming back inside tonight,
if I’ll stay inside tonight.
I gaze over the blackness of the placid lake as the wind picks up
and strokes my face with it’s cool grey fingers.
“No,” I say,
“I think I’ll stay out here.”