i just want another night
of long shirt dresses and blankets
of neon lights and bright eyes
of loud, raucous laughter keeping us warm
when we can stare into the cracked ceiling,
and dream wildly among ourselves,
ambitious minds in chaotic unity.

i just want another night
of garish uniforms, drooping backpacks
of rushing through pre-programmed schooldays,
of always looking forward, standing side by side
as we build an uncertain path,
hazy and confused but constant,
our futures seeming intertwined within each others'.

i just want another night
of business clothes on awkward bodies
of briefcases filled with research
of lanyards and placards and enlightened minds
and we spit fire and passion into old faces,
surrounded by children like us, who have learned
to think bigger than the universe itself.

i just want another night
of glittering gowns and ginger ale
of makeup-ruined faces and bleary eyes
of manicured hands holding hands safe
where we can breath in deep,
fill our lungs with city smoke
and fall in love with ourselves a little more.

i just want another night
of dreaming and planning and loving
of fleeting years and lasting friendships
of this bedroom, this classroom, this city
before we all depart
and nothing shall ever feel the same
as we made it seem.

i just want another night
of you
of me
of feeling infinite
beneath the stars, the sun, the universe
with the knowledge that they might crush us
but just like another night
we can stand side by side, alight with virtue
and face it all with the hope we squeezed into our hearts.

i just want another night
where we can surely belong
not to a place, perhaps,
but to each other
in some impossible way
that keeps us alive and blissfully uncertain,
unaware of shattering dreams
unaware of our changing futures
unaware of our fork in the road
unaware of everything that lay beyond-
i just want another night
of being the little girls and boys
we thought we were going to remain.

i just want another night
before the present becomes that past
andour futures divide-
i just want one last night
as a child, with my childhood
before waking up, growing up, and walking ahead.