Three in the Quiet Hour

Three in the morning. That tender, middle hour when yesterday has slipped through your fingers and tomorrow is still stretching somewhere just beyond the horizon. I’m perched by the window like some half-awake lighthouse keeper, sipping on silence, letting the stillness settle into my bones.

Outside, the wind is wide awake. Not angry, not restless—just playful, like a child who refuses to go to bed. It scoops up loose paper and sends it sailing down the road, with every leaf or every tree dancing in the moonlit hour. No music, no fanfare—just the joy of moment. And there’s something honest in that.

The dark tonight isn’t heavy. It’s soft, inviting—the kind of velvet shade you could wrap around your shoulders. Porch lights spill their little halos into empty yards, and the streetlamp down the way throws lazy shadows that stretch like old stories waiting for someone to remember them.

And when you sit long enough, let your eyes unfocus just a bit, the night starts to show you things it doesn’t show everyone—half-shapes, echoes of memories, scenes stitched from yearning. The mind likes to paint its own pictures at this hour. But even in all those fuzzy silhouettes, I don’t see a face. I don’t see a moment. I see the feeling of you—the ache of what could have been, should have been, might still be if the stars take pity. A presence made of absence. A song I know by heart but haven’t heard in years.

Outside, the air has a polite chill to it. Just enough to remind me that I’m still here, that I haven’t drifted into those shapes in the night. The furnace whispers from across the room, pushing out warmth that reaches me like an old friend trying to speak without words. The Cold and the heat wrapped together—life’s way of saying balance is never simple, but always worth reaching for.

The clock ticks. Faithful. Steady. But time… time isn’t going anywhere. Not right now. It’s leaning on the wall, arms crossed, waiting for me to stop pretending I can outrun whatever it is that keeps my heart racing and my thoughts pacing circles around the same quiet question:

Where are you?

So I’ll sit here a little longer, watching the wind spin its tiny miracles, listening to the clock make its gentle little promises, and wondering—wherever you are, do you feel this same pull in the dark?

Sleep, that old friend, tends to arrive when you forget to look for her. But tonight she’s off wandering, chasing other people’s dreams. I’ll leave the door cracked for her, whenever she decides to come home.


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40 responses to “Three in the Quiet Hour”

  1. Lynette d'Arty-Cross Avatar

    I love your personification of Sleep and have had similar experiences, too!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. AKings Avatar

      Thanks Lynette! How are you?

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Lynette d'Arty-Cross Avatar

        For the most part fine with some insomnia and trying to avoid growing webbed feet and hands in all this rain. 😉

        Liked by 1 person

      2. AKings Avatar

        They might help seeing how the world seems to be getting more and more water ☺️.

        Liked by 1 person

    2. yusefasabiyah Avatar

      Wreck you a mental, as along excremental, go to the tiger, treat love Queen Elizabeth, pert poems, rock it,

      Tiger poop is returned to the best Queen, because poet and tribute Queen, virgin queen,

      I love India conquest, to make my subjects such, quick jab, a right over, and an ivory, bad simple

      You go slow, my there on top of the Hindhi, a hawk, you will never love rat as fat for a hawk, a ferrier,

      Love of a derrier, pat,

      Stesart class REM a big power white bear, LOVE SHOWER

      Like

  2.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    it’s only 1:30 here , and , I still love the peace and quiet, where my mind can be alone and wander wherever it wants….no marching orders…

    Liked by 1 person

    1. AKings Avatar

      I love the stillness and quietness of the world and is a welcome thought after a rough day at work.

      Like

      1. yusefasabiyah Avatar

        I play plaid in an ar,

        Air, a black man,

        Skulled from Africa,

        Sream to little kids

        Little varmints you got a knife, let me see it, you let me see it, hey babe, I disarm you and I am not a COP.

        Like

  3. Mags Win Avatar

    I love this post. It is one of those nights for me.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. AKings Avatar

      Thank you Mags ☺️.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Mags Win Avatar

        You are welcome.

        Liked by 1 person

      2.  Avatar
        Anonymous

        simply beautiful- wonder if doing with less sleep is a boon or not!

        Liked by 2 people

      3. AKings Avatar

        Anything less than 5 hours is supposed to be bad for brain cognition. You’d have a dose of forgetfulness.

        Like

    2. yusefasabiyah Avatar

      I heard, as the laundry hang out, and the little fingers,

      Rasp out a tiny tune, you hear me, song come along,

      I give a dang, Chaplin, maybe Chopin, maybe you got a wife,

      A wife you go there, looking on

      Go out to sea, you love me, you me spring bad some, my son I love some, you want me,

      I want you a big boob, protect you and my young son,

      SOME,

      Get me some,

      Like

  4. Sara Avatar

    This was beautiful. Thank you.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. AKings Avatar

      Thank you Sara.

      Like

  5. swabby429 Avatar

    I’m reading this at 3:00 AM Central Standard Time

    Liked by 1 person

    1. AKings Avatar

      Isn’t that a coincidence ☺️.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. swabby429 Avatar

        Ha, ha. For sure.

        Liked by 1 person

  6. Michael DeStefano Avatar

    I’ve reached that point in life when one develops what I call “Old man sleeping habits:” I only require five hours of sleep and can’t stay awake past ten o’clock. What does that mean? You guessed it; I’m the 3:00 a.m. dude… not occasionally but every night. But thanks, your lyricism made “my biography” seem compelling.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. AKings Avatar

      Looks like we’re in the same predicament ☺️.

      Like

  7. kagould17 Avatar

    That is a much kinder way of describing insomnia than I might use. Well done. Have a great Friday. Allan

    Liked by 1 person

    1. AKings Avatar

      Hi Allan. You’re the first one to mention that and you are absolutely correct. ☺️

      Liked by 1 person

  8.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Beautiful, raw, real, meaningful, relatable, and a brilliantly simple paradox of melancholy and hopeful. Thank you for sharing. 🕉️

    Liked by 1 person

  9. JeanMarie Avatar
    1. AKings Avatar

      Thank you Jeane.

      Like

  10. David Avatar

    Next time I wake up in the small hours and can’t get back to sleep, I will try visiting the night. Thanks for the thoughts.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. AKings Avatar
  11. Carl D'Agostino Avatar

    Supposed to be a meteor shower tonight. I’ve been getting up two or three times a night for years, gone outside and never saw a thing.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. AKings Avatar

      Maybe tonight’s your lucky night ☺️.

      Liked by 1 person

  12. denvrital Avatar

    Great prose. Reminded me of a song written by David Mann way back in 1955 called “In The Wee Small Hours of The Morning” and made famous by Frank Sinatra… very nice lyrics… the kind of song that just relaxes the mind and soul. Listen to it if you get a moment… I’m sure you will find it equally as soothing. Lenny

    Liked by 1 person

    1. AKings Avatar

      Thank you Lenny. I’ll look for it. ☺️

      Like

  13. Dawn Avatar

    I am not easily amused, and from this, I can’t say amused is the word, but encapsulated, entranced? You’ve tickled the fancies that live within the depths of many. You nailed it, impressive! However you spilled this forth, from your very own mind or elsewhere, it’s quite something.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. AKings Avatar

      Thank you so much, Dawn. You are very kind. 😊

      Liked by 1 person

  14. Silver Screenings Avatar

    Absolutely love how you wrote about this night. A person can feel it, the writing is so vivid.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. AKings Avatar

      Thank you! 😊

      Liked by 1 person

  15. Jimena Avatar

    Thank you for such nice writing!
    “the ache of what could have been, should have been, might still be if the stars take pity. A presence made of absence.” amazing

    Liked by 1 person

    1. AKings Avatar

      Thank you Jimena. I appreciate it.

      Like

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