Stephanie Jones

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Nightlight Song

Yes boy
we want the gentle ones

who sing into silence
alone. We want the ones

who fold tenderness
in their pockets

like robin wings. We
want the ones who close

their eyes slowly. Who return
what they’ve taken with

regret etched in the
face of a rising moon.

We want the sparrowed ones
who do not fear themselves

their hands their blinding
hearts. Who collect

stones along paths
with only their memories.

We want the ones who
run fast into the bluest wild

hands outstretched &
shivering. Who catch

themselves when they
stumble. Or fall & bruise

& heal with every breath
of patience they’ve

let go holding.

Stephanie Jones is the daughter of a Mexican immigrant and a Mediterranean Jersey girl, with bylines in The New York Times, HuffPost & elsewhere. She is a 2026 Rhysling nominee & her poems appear/are forthcoming in The Santa Fe Literary Review, New Feathers Anthology, Midway Journal, Querencia Press, The Inflectionist Review, Entre: Magazine of the Arts, Nulla, Pine Hills Review, Reverie Magazine & elsewhere, and as a commission for Blue Note Records.