Flicker Through Silence

Last night a siren cut off

before it could say its name,

a raw slash of sound and then

nothing.

Streetlamp flickers, casting half-shadows

where the dark forgot to fill.

The sound—an unfinished sentence,

a scream swallowed by the rain.

I listened for the reason—fire, fight,

ambulance or cold blue light?

But silence wrapped itself around my window,

its cold pulse without a beat.