The jarring, insistent shriek, An alarm clock’s metallic cry, Assaults the fragile morning’s peace, A painful echo in the sky Of my dark skull. I groan, a sound Instantly swallowed by the deep, Heavy silence all around, I try to meld back into sleep.
A cruel hand pulls, a rhythmic beat, From sleep’s warm, velvet, soft embrace, It snatches me, with sudden heat, And leaves my heart against my face. My eyes fly open, dark and blank, Staring up at the ceiling’s shade, My body, safe within the bank Of blankets, a fortress I have made.
But now the cold kiss starts to creep, A sharp, unwelcome morning chill, That pricks the skin I cannot keep Beneath the covers, lying still. With weariness, I fight the day, The first act: pull the fabric high, To hide, to make the light away, And plunge into a private sky.
No. It can’t possibly be now, Time is a thief that steals the night, I want to vanish, somehow, From all the expectations of the light. Just lie here, a statue, breathing low, Letting my mind drift, free and wide, Back to the quiet dreams I know, A ghost the sheets completely hide.
This is my refuge, warm and deep, A sanctuary I’ll not leave, While outside, light and noises sleep. I am a vessel that will receive A torrent of chaotic thought, The doubt, the list, the sudden spark, In this brief silence, dearly bought, Before the world steps from the dark.
But then, the quiet starts to fade, A deep, weary settling down: Alas, the rising must be made. Each day, a loop, a weary crown. I run a race that has no end, Against the clock, against demands, A weight that bends, and still must bend. I shove the covers with both hands.
The only prize, the only true Reprieve, is time, unscheduled, pure: To take a day, a week or two, With only my children, to be sure. No emails, bosses, or cruel stress, Just me and my kids, simple, slow, Wrapped in the light of quietness. That is the only finish line I know.
