June 23-27, 2023

4:00 AM

it is night

(well, it is early morning, actually)

I lie awake

the world is silent

(well, it is mostly silent, actually)

breathing rustles sheets beside me

busy people rush along Kingston Road

more distantly along the four-oh-one

and in the intermediate distance

(well, the nearness of our yard, actually)

the early birds contemplate their worms

or the half-empty feeder in the back yard

or the sun, just about the burst the night

scatter its shards across a new-born day

I lie here, semi-slumbering

dreaming three hours more

between comforting sheets

easing into the breaking dawn