The only reason — Summary

I am sending this is you keeping me up late.

Learn Poems app

Try the Learn Poems app

Everything from the website trainer, and more: new exercises, voice recording and sharing, reminders, quick review.

Only two lines long, this little poem packs a whole situation into a few words. The speaker is sending something, maybe a message, maybe this very poem, and the reason, they say, is that the person they're addressing is keeping them up late. The title, "The only reason," seems to sharpen that: nothing else explains why the speaker is reaching out except this other person's hold on their nights.

The grammar is slightly off. "I am sending this is you" reads like a sentence that tripped over itself, as if "because" or "to" went missing. Whether that's a typo or deliberate, it gives the lines a rushed, half-awake feel, like something typed in the small hours when thinking straight is hard.

The mood is quiet, restless, and a little teasing. The speaker sounds complaining and affectionate at once, as though being kept awake is both an annoyance and a way of admitting how much this person is on their mind.

Read also

More by Matthew Ricks

All poems
ContemplativeMatthew Ricks

Sunset

Pretty clouds today. But now the sun has gone down, and I must go too.
ContemplativeMatthew Ricks

Stairs

Four more flights of stairs— each more tiresome than the last— then rest I at home.